2018 Acapulco R1 Nishikori vs Shapovalov

[Forehand_Slice]

A potential intruiging R1 matchup between two talented players.

Neither are noteworthy defenders, but are both instead attacking explosive shotmakers.
Powerful lefty serve against one of the best offensive backhands on the tour.


Match thoughts:
Huge opportunity for Shapovalov to get a big win over the rusty Nishikori.

Kei has yet to win a single outdoor match this year(played only one), and the outdoor conditions
are likely to cause problems with his new serve motion. Expect lots of faults.
Also his forehand which is nowhere near his normal potency, though could've improved since last match.

For Denis to win he has to serve big and well. His current game isn't quite consistent without his serve
and his return game isn't stellar, though Kei's sub par serving should give him plenty of chances.
Importantly, he's got to be careful not to always go crosscourt to the backhand. Kei's DTL will make him pay
and he will crush any weak replies on that side. Both love pace and lack variety so pretty even on that front.

Mixing up play with serve/volley and exploiting the Kei forehand, Shapo can win in two.
If his own single hander and/or serve doesn't hold up, expect the reverse.
And if it goes the distance, Kei's experience will give him the upper hand.

 

[Red Rick]

This could go anywhere. Hoping for a good match.

 

[Red Rick]

This could go anywhere. Hoping for a good match.

I demand a Shapovalov gets disqualified option in the poll

 

[Otacon]

Denis is well warmed up and ready to go.

 

[EloQuent]

oh my, retires is winning

 

[Rafa.the.Magnificent]

Shapovalov in 2.

 

[Forehand_Slice]

This could go anywhere. Hoping for a good match.

I demand a Shapovalov gets disqualified option in the poll

That would be bad luck

 

[Deleted member 77403]

What a match up for the first round

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Yep, I'm in for this one.

 

[gn]

Have to change my natural sleeping pattern for this one.
Hoping it is not a disappointment.

 

[albertobra]

1 all. Nishi looks OK

 

[Sparlingo]

Looks a little windy there, neither player dominating yet. Some silly mistakes from Shapo,

 

[Forehand_Slice]

Nishikori holding to love.
Very rare occurrence.

 

[Chadillac]

Shap in 3

 

[Sysyphus]

solid serving from Shapbot to quickly get out of the 15–30 hole.

This is a potentially interesting match-up for the reason that Nishikori has a good enough return game to make Denis play some ball behind his serve and a weak enough serve to let Denis play some ball on return.

Kei not serving well now. Recipe seems clear enough though: target the Denis backhand.

stream?

Try one of these?

https://www.batmanstream.net/tennis-live-streaming-video-2016-24.html

 

[manley0702]

stream?

 

[Sparlingo]

Hope you are right but Nish exploiting Shapo's inconsistent backhand

 

[Forehand_Slice]

Shapo needs to up his game. Nishi is one of the worst servers in the Top 30.
Gotta take those chances.

 

[Sparlingo]

Shapo needs to up his game. Nishi is one of the worst servers in the Top 30.
Gotta take those chances.

agreed

 

[Chadillac]

stream?

http://live.livewidget.net/streamvi...povalov-atp-acapulco-live-stream-4601095.html

 

[EloQuent]

http://live.livewidget.net/streamvi...povalov-atp-acapulco-live-stream-4601095.html

"Unable to connect"

 

[Sparlingo]

the game is a little dull so far

 

[Chadillac]

"Unable to connect"

Are you getting an adobe flash msg?

 

[Sparlingo]

http://videostream.dn.ua/videopage/...c=en&i=eWl6aXFnc2hxZQ%B9f%B9f&hc_location=ufi

 

[Legend of Borg]

operation "break down the one hander" is going to plan

a let saved shapo there but he was gonna lose that rally 9/10 times

 

[gn]

http://sekastream3.com/canli-mac-izle/nishikori-shapovalov-macini-canli-izle/

 

[EloQuent]

Are you getting an adobe flash msg?

no. but anyway it's okay, I'm leaving now

 

[Sparlingo]

No clear advantage yet, neither seem to be playing their A game

 

[Legend of Borg]

k-san can't seem to get into shapo's service games but i don't think he feels threatened by him in extended rallies

 

[norcal]

I can't believe they have this on the grandstand and Querry on center. Hope TC sticks with this.

 

[Sysyphus]

In any case, I'm very happy to see Kei out there on tour again. I'm sure @gn is too. Cool guy with a cool game. Hope he gets back to form and health (fat chance about that last part, I know).

And here we roll the tiebreak dice – who's it gonna be? Serve or ground game?

 

[Legend of Borg]

jeez, are stan and fed the only 1 handers who actually win stuff and don't shank every 2nd backhand into the stands

with stan's recent performance, fed might be the only one left repping the 1 hander as he's lifting trophies

 

[Forehand_Slice]

Wow, another love hold for Nishi.
Shapo playing like a servebot.

 

[Legend of Borg]

k-san with an improved serve with that kind of agassi-like power baseline game is a scary prospect

the only question is, can kei actually develop a good serve at that height?

 

[EloQuent]

Shapo always lousy in tiebreaks?

 

[BeatlesFan]

What a truly pathetic TB from Shapo!

 

[Legend of Borg]

Shapo always lousy in tiebreaks?

mexican heat getting to him

 

[Red Rick]

This is the kind of matchup that tends to snowball one way or the other. Nishikori is a player Shapovalov should be able to break but if he loses too many rallies he's just gonna be under a few truckloads of pressure due to Kei's great returning

Very disappointed in Denis' racket tanking game. His ball abuse game is miles better

 

[Chadillac]

Probably shouldnt hit returns as hard as he can in tb's

 

[Sysyphus]

k-san with an improved serve with that kind of agassi-like power baseline game is a scary prospect

the only question is, can kei actually develop a good serve at that height?

I think you can absolutely serve a fair bit better than Kei at that height; question is, will Kei himself be able to do it? Doesn't seem like it, seems to struggle a little bit technically IMHO. During his latest layoff he changed his stance from pinpoint to platform, although now he seems a bit confused between the two, hehe.

Agreed that he'd be a scary player if he served better. Such solid weapons off both wings.

 

[Red Rick]

k-san with an improved serve with that kind of agassi-like power baseline game is a scary prospect

the only question is, can kei actually develop a good serve at that height?

Nishikori isn't as short as many people think he is. At 1.78 he should be able to serve somewhat decently. Goffin at 1.80 made some big improvements in that department last year.

 

[Chadillac]

Scoreline looks like an entertaining match, but kind of boring

 

[Legend of Borg]

the court camera angle is really great for getting a feel for how powerful these groundstrokes are

that backhand return slapper from kei woulda looked slow from the overhead cam but court cam makes it look crazy

 

[Red Rick]

I think you can absolutely serve a fair bit better than Kei at that height; question is, will Kei himself be able to do it? Doesn't seem like it, seems to struggle a little bit technically IMHO. During his latest layoff he changed his stance from pinpoint to platform, although now he seems a bit confused between the two, hehe.

Agreed that he'd be a scary player if he served better. Such solid weapons off both wings.

Yeah it to me that the first part of the racket acceleration doesn't utilize the shoulder very well. It seems mostly a bit of racket drop due to the elbow bending.

I wonder if he maybe just has a really stiff shoulder.

 

[EloQuent]

Nishikori isn't as short as many people think he is. At 1.78 he should be able to serve somewhat decently. Goffin at 1.80 made some big improvements in that department last year.

Shapo isn't that tall, probably only about a couple inches taller than Nishi (or 5 cm, for the communists)

 

[Legend of Borg]

I think you can absolutely serve a fair bit better than Kei at that height; question is, will Kei himself be able to do it? Doesn't seem like it, seems to struggle a little bit technically IMHO. During his latest layoff he changed his stance from pinpoint to platform, although now he seems a bit confused between the two, hehe.

Agreed that he'd be a scary player if he served better. Such solid weapons off both wings.

are his injuries in any way serve related? i'm not sure why he changed his service motion

 

[Red Rick]

Shapo isn't that tall, probably only about a couple inches taller than Nishi (or 5 cm, for the communists)

Shapovalov is really the about as short as it can get for really good servers, and he's got pretty long arms.

 

[Legend of Borg]

Nishikori isn't as short as many people think he is. At 1.78 he should be able to serve somewhat decently. Goffin at 1.80 made some big improvements in that department last year.

that'd be great news for spectators and scary news for fedal

he's had some good battles against fedal even if he doesn't lead the H2H and a good serve will go a long way in helping that

 

[Red Rick]

@Sysyphus

For me the biggest thing is that he drops his shoulders and upper arm aren't in a straight line. So you miss a lot of racket drop there already

 

[metsman]

This will be a good test for Denis, if he can pull this off.