ATP 1000 - Miami

Seeds are as follow:-

.

1. Alexander Zverev
2. Carlos Alcaraz
3. Taylor Fritz
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Casper Ruud
6. Jack Draper
7. Daniil Medvedev
8. Andrey Rublev
9. Stefanos Tsitsipas
10. Álex de Miñaur
11. Holger Rune
12. Tommy Paul
13. Ben Shelton
14. Grigor Dimitrov
15. Lorenzo Musetti
16. Frances Tiafoe
17. Arthur Fils
18. Félix Auger-Aliassime
19. Ugo Humbert
20. Tomas Machac
21. Hubert Hurkacz
22. Karen Khachanov
23. Francisco Cerúndolo
24. Sebastian Korda
25. Alexei Popyrin
26. Jiri Lehecka
27. Denis Shapovalov
28. Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard
29. Matteo Berrettini
30. Alejandro Tabilo
31. Brandon Nakashima
32. Alex Michelsen

ROUND 1/2

Top Half of the Draw

1 Alexander Zverev vs Jordan Thompson

16 Frances Tiafoe vs 17 Arthur Fils

Reilly Opelka vs Thomas Machav

Roman Safiullin vs Jakub Mensik

3 Taylor Fritz vs 27 Denis Shapovalov

Colman Wong vs Adam Walton

10 Alex de Minaur vs Joao Fonseca

29 Matteo Berrettin vs Zizou Bergs

Bottom Half of the Draw

Gael Monfils vs Jaume Munar

9 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs 25 Sebastian Korda

16 Lorenzo Musetti vs 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime

4 Novak Djokovic vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli

6 Casper Ruud vs 30 Alejandro Tabilo

12 Tommy Paul vs 23 Francisco Cerundolo

14 Grigor Dimitrov vs 22 Karen Khachanov

31 Brandon Nakashima vs David Goffin

The organzers in fact used 15 qualifiers and the Round 1 matches of he bottom of he draw iplayes ae being played today. In watching the austronauts iyt ws mntioned tha process was expedited because bad weather condiutions are expcted in Florida over the next week. Mostly it was supposed to be cloudy nd windy - but no rain is forecased i the period until Friday next week. That could be changing with Miami being in a sub=tropical climate area.

Djokovic are going to be up against 2 weak players and should get to Round 2 to s cheduled to be played on Fridy if the weather holds up. However, his performnces thus far this year was sub-standard and one should for his sake hope he is better in Miami.

The first matches involving seeded players in the 16 Bottom Half of the Draw start today and tomrrow would continue iro Top Half fo the Draw matches.

I am very interested in the progress of two extrmely talented youngsters by the names of Mensik and Fonseca. Bpth won their matches today and in the enxt round wi;; face the following players:-

6 Jack Draper vs Jakub Mensik

19 Ugo Humbert vs Joao Fonseca,

ROUND 3

Top Half of the Draw

1 Alexander Zverev vs 17 Arthur Fils

20 Thomas Machav vs Jakub Mensik

3 Taylor Fritz vs Adam Walton

10 Alex de Minaur vs 29 Matteo Berrettini

Bottom Half of the Draw

25 Sebastian Korda vs Gael Monfils

4 Novak Djokovic vs 16 Lorenzo Musetti

6 Casper Ruud vs 23 Francisco Cerundolo

14 Grigor Dimitrov vs 31 Brandon Nakashima

Yesterday of the 16 seeds 4 seeds lost their Round 1 matches. 2 of the losses were top 10 seedd playes = Alcaraz and Mededev, That in a very wealth aof the draw where most playes played were qualifiers Both two top ten players have been underperforming his year and Medvedev is now in serious threat of dropping out of the 10 ten seeds for the first time since 2019.

In the top half of the Draw out of form players included Hurkacz - who wthdrew and is now down to be out of the top twenty players after the same period, . Players under threat this round includes Rublev and at least 4 other players, So I expect the same would happen in the Top Half of the Draw.

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

17 Arthur Fils vs Jakub Mensik

3 Taylor Fritz vs 29 Matteo Berrettini

Bottom Half of the Draw

4 Novak Djokovic vs 25 Sebastian Korda

14 Grigor Dimitrov vs 23 Francisco Cerundolo

SEMIFINALS

3 Taylor Fritz vs Jakub Mensik

4 Novak Djokovic vs 14 Grigor Dimitrov

FINAL

4 Novak Djokovic vs Jakub Mensik

I mentioned earlier that the best youngsters coming throuh are Jakub Mensik and Joao Foneca Mensik is 19 years of age and Fonseca is 18 ears old. Fonseca was in a very tight match by De Minaur - but I hink he is going to win mire matches against D Minaur than he loses,

Mensik was rankd 51 at the start of the Tournament. He beat thus for in Miami tow to ten players - Friz and Draper, and he is now ranked no 30 in the world and his next victim is lkely to be Djokovic - we wiill see on Sinday whether he can beat his all-time tennis hero in their fit match between the two of them/

Next week is the start of the European Clay Court season where Fonseca is going to make hay, He is likely to be the first Brazillian after Kuerten in 2000 and 2001 to ein i the French Open, Unlike Alcarz who relies heavilu on spin balls an slower ball manipulatio both Mensic and Fonseca is high pace htters of balls.

By the way I am putting R65,10 on Mensik winning this tournament - he is a real class act already and I think Djokovic had reasonable performances against much poorer players than Mensik - so I am putting money on where my mouth is in this case. .If he wins I am standing to win over R300,

Tournament winner - JAKUB MENSIK

Congrats to the real deal that wihtin the next year will be the NUMBER 1 tennis player in the world, Amazing case when I saw him last year when he was still in school I said that he is going to be a top star in Tennis and before he went into the play-offs I said he and another youngster Fonseca will rule the tennis world soon, Only real fact is he will get to the top soon.

Mensik the .magnificient with nerves of steel is not going to stop winning tournaments. .Why did I say nerves of steel - he played in 9 tie-breakers to win sets and on all 6 of them against top ten seeded players,

This guy is special -a fter the win their wwas some tears and hen he wrote on the camera lunc h a really serious forecast which I regard as really true:-

"One of many"