Nikoloz Basilashvili - Slowest Starter??

[byealmeens]

Is Nikoloz Basilashvili the slowest starter on tour or does he have trouble with nerves ... or something else? I have watched him play several matches this year, but not enough to know the answer to the question. It just seems every match he starts slow ... very slow ... down two breaks or worse, and then often comes back to play better in the second or even win the match. I am sure he has lost in straights and possibly even won in straights, but I don't recall another player with so many bad starts. Or am I just catching him on off days??

Also, if anyone could find how often this has happened with him this year please share. I tried to look up his record and could not find actual scores per match. He is up to 59 in the world I believe, so he's having a decent year (career-wise).

 

[The Green Mile]

http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/player.cgi?p=NikolozBasilashvili

Interesting that you mention this, I've seen a handful of his matches this year, and the only match I witnessed that the Basher started strongly in was the Goffin match in Barcelona. Started terrible against Simon at the FO, Gifted Ferrer a double break in Hamburg with many errors, bageled by Klizan in the opening set of their Sofia QF match, etc...

He's extremely erratic, and things can go south real quick, especially off that forehand. Similar to Khachanov in that regard.

The matches I've seen of him aren't that many though, so I don't really know...

 

[Meles]

http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/player.cgi?p=NikolozBasilashvili

Interesting that you mention this, I've seen a handful of his matches this year, and the only match I witnessed that the Basher started strongly in was the Goffin match in Barcelona. Started terrible against Simon at the FO, Gifted Ferrer a double break in Hamburg with many errors, bageled by Klizan in the opening set of their Sofia QF match, etc...

He's extremely erratic, and things can go south real quick, especially off that forehand. Similar to Khachanov in that regard.

The matches I've seen of him aren't that many though, so I don't really know...

Rublev is also a slow starter. It may be they take a while to size up the opposition and start really timing their shots.

 

[Checkmate]

He didn't start at all against Nadal in the FO.

 

[The Green Mile]

Simon is a very slow starter these days, he didn't exactly race out the gates in his better years, but it doesn't really compare to now.

 

[MasturB]

He didn't start at all against Nadal in the FO.

If you watched that match he was actually striking the ball very well and very clean. Nadal was just hitting winners from defensive positions or forcing NB to hit errors after he hit 3-4 winners in the point.

 

[byealmeens]

Yes, I believe in the Klizan match in Sofia (mentioned by Green Mile) he came back to win after losing the first set 6-0. Of course, in Shanghai this week he lost the first 6-2 against Del Potro, came back to win the second, and lost a tight third to lose the match. That's what prompted this post.

After checking his overall results this year, however, it seems there were definitely tournaments where he was "on" ... Memphis in particular. There he won 4 matches in straights before losing to Harrison in the final (also in straight sets). Maybe I am just catching him on off days. There have been matches where he has also been beaten badly, as several have pointed out. Nadal on clay, and Kyrgios just a few weeks ago in the China Open are just a couple of examples.