Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Dimitrov and Tomic Continues to Struggle in Shanghai

Shanghai is under way although none of the top 8 seeds have been in action yet. The highest seed who was in action today was Gasquet and he lost 6-3, 6-4 to rising Canadian star Vasek Pospisil. With Raonic doing as well as he is Canadian tennis certainly seems to be on the up and up. They could even be better than the USA currently, who has been abysmal of late. When the generation of Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Chang, Martin, and others departed it was up to Andy Roddick to fly the flag for the Americans.

And now that even he is gone there is hardly anyone left. There is Isner who is top 15 and then there is Querrey who is top 40, the only American players in the top 50. It really hasn't been the most successful of times for American tennis. Something similar could be said for young talent on the ATP Tour. While Raonic and Janowicz have been making their move, two very promising youngsters in Dimitrov and Tomic have been struggling to make their mark.



It looked at some point like both would make their move this year, but they have faded out towards the end. I myself thought Dimitrov would make his move this year after making the final in Brisbane and continuing to make headway as the year progressed, but he never quite broke through. Today he was routined 6-3, 6-4 by Nishikori who is at least another young top 20 player. I am a Fedfan myself and I was hoping once he retires Dimitrov can sort of fill his shoes in terms of playing high level, attractive tennis.

Tomic has a very different style to Dimitrov but I find his game interesting to watch as well, and I think he is another big talent. But both of them seem to have trouble with motivation. Tomic lost 7-5, 6-2 to Chardy again today which is another disappointing result. He started the year well in Australia with a title in Sydney, but for the rest of the year all he has to show is a 4th round at Wimbledon. Dimitrov was a bit more consistent and had that big win against Djokovic, and he played Nadal close on a couple of occasions too.



Both have showed great promise but they are not delivering on that promise. Tomic has issues with his dad while Dimitrov seems too concerned about his relationship with 'Sugerpova'. It is like they just can't get focused enough to have consistently good results and make a big breakthrough, because they undoubtedly have the talent. It just goes to show how tough it is out there and that it requires more than just talent. It also requires damn hard work and dedication.

As for other results 13th seeded Frenchman Simon also lost 6-4, 6-3 to his countryman Paire. Hewitt had another disappointing 6-4, 6-2 loss to Seppi, who will now play Federer. Raonic continued on the winning path with a straight set win and plays Verdasco next. Tomorrow the top 8 seeds are all in action and there will be some good matches. I won't single out any particular match but I can see quite a few that would make for good viewing. See you soon!

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