Catching Up: A Touch of Carlos and an Introduction to Brenda Fruhvirtova
Carlos Alcaraz' devastating drop-shot in Rio, an intro to 14-year-old phenom Brenda Fruhvirtova, the best and worst of Alexander Zverev and a great escape from Jannik Sinner.
It’s been a busy week on the tour.
Here’s our desperate attempt at helping you keep your head above water with four short stories from the tours.
Carlos Alcaraz’ drop-shots in his title at the Rio Open.
An introduction to 14-year-old phenom Brenda Fruhvirtova.
The best and worst of Alexander Zverev, from his late-night win over Jenson Brooksby to his disqualification from the tournament.
Jannik Sinner’s great escape against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Hope you can keep up!
A Touch of Carlos
Carlos Alcaraz won the the Rio Open last Sunday, becoming the youngest active player to crack the top-20, the youngest player ever to win an ATP-500 (since its inception in 2009), yada yada yada…
We all know how good a player Carlos Alcaraz is for his age! We all know he’s got an immense forehand, supreme movement and fitness, a classy backhand and decent serve to boot…
But that touch though? The Alcaraz drop-shot is a thing of beauty and it’s setting him apart from most of his peers1.
In his last three rounds in Rio, Alcaraz’ drop-shot wreaked havoc on his opponents.
Drop-shot points won vs Berrettini: 9/11
Drop-shot points won vs Fognini: 7/12
Drop-shot points won vs Schwartzman: 10/11
Overall success when using the drop-shot: 28/36 = 78%
Contrary to what I said on the latest podcast episode, Alcaraz’ is highly unpredictable.
He definitely favours the inside-out drop-shot, teeing up for a massive forehand before catching his opponents on their heels with a drop-shot over the highest part of the net.
But it’s not as exclusive to this play as I first thought.
Scrutinising the drop-shot specifically in his final against Schwartzman, the reality is far more alarming for Alcaraz’ opponents. His execution of finesse and margin over the net are so high, he can afford to drop from anywhere in the court, the second bounce of the drop-shot often still in the top-half of the service box.
Alcaraz missed one of his 11 drop shot attempts and Schwartzman managed to get only one of them back into play (he lost that point as well).
It’s clearly a part of his game that hasn’t been considered as an afterthought, having worked on it thoroughly with Juan Carlos Ferrero. The genius of this shot is how well it complements Alcaraz’ forehand strength - he executes the drop-shot so well, the opponent is forced to sit closer to the baseline which gives them less time when Alcaraz is dominating the rally with his heavy forehand, a perpetual tussle between taking up a shallow and deep court-position.
The long and short of it? This guy has options in abundance which could prove to be the perfect pairing to his power game going forward.
I haven’t been this impressed with the strength and depth of a youngster’s game in who knows how long. Look out for Alcaraz making at least one deep run over the course of the clay-court Masters events…
Introducing Brenda Fruhvirtova
Get used to the name Fruhvirtova - cause there’s two of ‘em.
Hailing from Czechia and both products of the Mouratoglou academy, the Fruhvirtova sisters have been making waves.
Linda, the older of the two at 16 years old, made her WTA tour main draw debut at the 2020 Prague Open. The following year, she defeated Alize Cornet at the Charleston Open (though it did end in retirement deep in the third set) and has just picked up the third ITF title of her career in Cancun last Sunday.
Today however we are talking about Brenda.
Whilst Linda’s rise has been quick, Brenda’s has been lightning-paced. At just 14 years old, Brenda became the youngest player to win an ITF singles title since Claire Liu back in 2015 and backed this up with a consecutive title the following week at the same venue in Tucumán.
As a result, Brenda was awarded a wildcard into qualifying at the 250-level event taking place in Guadalajara this week. Lo and behold, the teenage prodigy qualified, defeating Leonie Kung (#273) and former world #5 Sara Errani. Qualifying made her the youngest player to qualify for a WTA Tour main draw match since 2009.
Still Growing
As one might expect from a 14-year-old, she won a respectable four games against Sloane Stephens in her first-round loss.
The power of the serve and particularly the forehand are still in development. Stephens missed one return throughout the entirety of the match and Fruhvirtova wasn’t able to use her forehand to boss pretty much any of the points, her explosiveness on this wing still lacking in comparison to her Slam-winning opponent (she didn’t hit any winners or forced errors with her forehand).
She frequently missed forehand returns as well, clearly less used to the heavy delivery of tour serves, failing to block the return back into play consistently. In steadier conditions, perhaps this relatively flat stroke will settle but, going off this match, it’s not yet a shot she can yet attack with easily.
That Backhand
This is the shot that is forged in steel.
Like many juniors, growing up with a double-hander makes sense due to the lack of power you can generate with one arm when you’re still a tot. Still, Fruhvirtova’s power of this wing is immense, treating us to a taster of what is surely going to be the shot that makes her career.
It was a shot that could more than keep up with Stephens’ backhand and will surely be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Sure, there was the odd moonball chucked into the mix but, though it’s quite commonplace in the juniors, it’s not a play I frown upon when the balls fly like they do in Guadalajara. Plus she made up for them in spades with plenty of huge backhands.
Overall, it was incredibly interesting to see her hold her own at times with Stephens at such a young ate. At the rate she is developing, I have no doubt the rest of her game will catch up soon.
The Best and the Worst of Alexander Zverev
Two things have happened to Alexander Zverev in the last two days.
The first happened early Tuesday morning.
Zverev’s win over Jenson Brooksby in Acapulco was the latest finish to a match at tour-level ever, finishing just before 5AM.
Brooksby isn’t one to shy away from an extended rally. Consequently, their second set involved a ton of gruelling baseline battles, lasting 111 minutes in total (no comparative stats on that unfortunately but I’m struggling to recall a longer set in a best-of-three match off the top of my head).
Zverev did eventually prevail in that tiebreak 12-10 however saving a couple of match points in the process.
Credit where credit’s due, Zverev has actually come up clutch match point down a numerous times during his eight years on the ATP Tour.
2019:
2MPs against Nicolas Jarry at the Geneva Open (championship points).
2018:
1MP against Damir Dzumhur at the French Open.
2017:
3MPs against Richard Gasquet at the Canada Masters (saved in the first-round, went on to win the tournament).
3MPs against John Isner at the Miami Masters.
2016:
2MPs against Gilles Simon at the Open de Nice Côte d'Azur.
1MP against Luca Vanni at the 2016 Open Sud de France.
Add Brooksby into the mix, that’s seven matches in his career so far where he’s saved at least one match point and gone onto win the match.
… and then this happened.
There was a close line call for the umpire to make at 8-6 in the tiebreak, Zverev wasn’t happy with it saying…
“Look where the ball bounced… 8-6 in the tiebreak… for f**ks sake… it’s f**king your line… f**king idiot.”
Due to the unsportsmanlike conduct shown above, the Mexican Open organisers were forced to disqualify Zverev from the tournament. He will likely lose all his points and prize money for both singles and doubles from his appearance and will probably be fined and billed for his hotel.
It’s not on.
For all of Zverev’s achievements, for all of his match point saves and impressive late-night finishes, applauding them always leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It’s impossible to forget the domestic abuse allegations that continue to be left awkwardly hanging in the air by the ATP Tour and matters like today just reinforce this feeling.
Us tennis fans will seemingly have to continue wrestling with the coexistence of both realities for years to come.
A Great Escape To Applaud
So that we’re not ending on a damp squib, here’s someone that can unquestionably be celebrated for coming up clutch.
Jannik Sinner came back from 3-6 down in his second-set tiebreak with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to win their first-round encounter in Dubai.
It’s the third time Sinner has saved at least one match point and gone on to win the match in his fledgling career.
2021:
1MP against Karen Khachanov at the Great Ocean Road Open.
2019:
1MP against Steve Johnson at the Rome Masters.
This comeback is worth mentioning because I fancy Jannik’s chances this week. The speedy hard-courts of Dubai fall right into his wheelhouse giving him a potential opportunity to win a very well-contested tournament2.
Sinner may be an established member of the top-10 with a couple of Grand Slam quarterfinals under his belt already but the focus has gone off him a little of late. A win here would deservedly earn him a ton of the limelight going into the first two Masters 1000s of the year.
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Hugo Gaston and Lorenzo Musetti are the only other top-ranked players that come to mind around his age to use the drop-shot as a primary part of their game.
He may have won five titles so far but none have been as saturated with quality players as Dubai.
Highest-ranked player in the draw at each of Sinner’s titles (excluding himself):
Sofia 2020: #12
Great Ocean Road Open 2021: #14
Washington 2021: #3 (Nadal lost in the first-round, second-highest ranked #15)
Sofia 2021: #20
Antwerp 2021: #13
Comparatively, Dubai has six of the world’s top-15 playing with Novak Djokovic topping off the draw.