Not since my 2016 pick of Alexander Zverev (now in the top 10!) have I been this excited by a new player. This year it’s Alex de Minaur. Currently ranked 208 in the world, this is definitely my biggest longshot of a pick ever.

He has a long list of things going for him:

• He’s got a great attitude. Gets fired up regularly and generally doesn’t have negative outbursts. They always tell you to play one point at a time and Alex does this. Terrible point? Reset, then try again.
• He’s fast as almost anyone out there
• He’s patient, which is rare in young players.

Denis Shapavalov is my pick for promising new player of the year. A very aggressive lefty, scrappy, and an excellent volleyer. Lots of positive energy although a bit too much temper.

Someone to watch in 2017. Currently ranked over 100 in the world.

I did this for 2011 but I thought it would be fun to put my pick or picks for the next hot player in writing and see how I do.

I was watching a match on Court 5 at the US Open in 2015, which shares seating with Court 4 so you can watch two matches at once. On Court 4 was an unknown player, Alexander Zverev, playing veteran Philip Kohlshreiber. As time went on, I started watching that match instead. It was 95 degrees, humid, and the match went 5 sets. Zverev succumbed to cramps and lost the match.… Read the rest

First world problem.

I record a lot of tennis on TiVo partly because it’s usually inconvenient to watch it live (time zone differences) and if I time-shift it, I can zap the commercials or skim matches I don’t have time to watch all of.

It’s gotten increasingly difficult to not have the outcomes of matches I’ve queued up be spoiled before I’ve gotten a chance to see them. I almost need to cut myself off from the outside world during a tournament I’m watching. Here are the various ways matches can be easily spoiled:

• I follow tennis players on social media and they obviously are going to announce the outcomes of their matches.

The highlight of the Australian Open this year for me was seeing three very promising players that I’ve never seen before, two of which I’ve never even heard of:

1. Bernard Tomic, who has a very unconventional style that really messes with people’s minds. You never know quite what he’s going to do. Does need to ditch his father as a coach.
2. Alexandr Dolgopolov, who also has somewhat of an unusual style, but can surprise you with easy power.
3. Milos Raonic  was the most impressive of all, although he didn’t make it as far as Dolgopolov. He’s much more of a classic player, with an incredible serve.