Discussion about this post

User's avatar
CourtVision's avatar

mensik remind mein your analysis to someone like zverev ! you mentioned hurckacz fair enough but mensik mooves like zverev which is better than hubert imo even though its close ! forehand weakness is spot on just like zverev and hubert ! one of the reason i have doubt mensik could win a slam just like zverev cause they are much more complete guys out there ! lets see

Expand full comment
Frauderer's avatar

Hi Hugh,

A great analysis, as always. Two comments

1) About Mensik’s TB record. While I agree the 70% record is probably unsustainable and such a 7 TB win streak is unlikely to reoccur, I still think he could develop into a tiebreak king. The fact his serve doesn’t go down a gear under pressure (in fact seemingly the opposite) when in general it does (thus the points getting longer and better players winning TBs) helps, but I also think on the other end of the spectrum he is great too. His serving points don’t get longer but his return ability (one I’ve admired from the start, great reflexes and absorption off both wings including the FH) allows to make his opponent’s longer. That’s a scary short point domination combo (Jeff Sackman had showcased his 1-3s earlier in the week and he places in the Top 10). Sometimes that’s all it takes, see the easy +1 miss from Djokovic at 2-0 in the first TB.

2) Speaking of Djokovic. That piece was understandably centered around Mensik, but what do you make of this week for him? To me it was very positive, and not a negative final itself, especially when you take some circumstances (stye and high humidity) into account which may have contributed to the not-so-stellar day he had and you mentioned.

He didn’t quite get dominated, he was mostly out clutched in tiebreakers. And sure, you could say Prime (or even 2023) Djokovic would have been the clutch one (even dominated the match to a point clutch doesn’t matter) by cutting down on Mensik’s free points on serve and outlasting / exposing him in those lung busting areas (big serve return and rally endurance seemingly the two areas where he has « declined » the most), but still, given Mensik’s performance (basically no drop from the entire week) and Novak’s own throughout (dominant draw albeit not so great competition) I think the pieces are still there for a #25, especially the one that is questionable (physicality and all its aspects, from reflexes to movement / defense to rally stamina).

Wimbledon seems like a better bet than the French, but even that I wouldn’t rule out as I think he’ll keep upping physical gears (eventually being better than the Djokovic who suffered against humidity) and build momentum throughout the clay season, bar another injury which would set him back to square one (or even be the end of things).

Expand full comment
37 more comments...

No posts