Russian Lion Karatsev

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
Aslan fans checking their blood pressure in that 4th set tiebreak

Maybe this comeback can give him some confidence and get him some form back.
 

yokied

Hall of Fame
I’m likely to become quite unhinged by the possibilities if he gets to Novak.

Not quite as unhinged as I hope Aslan gets at the prospect of saving tennis and getting the world’s biggest PayPal top-up from The Mirka-Xisca Corporation.

All he’s gotta do is handle repeat customer Jenson, who didn’t take his last mauling too well.

The worst part is the Australian time difference is terrible for tennis fans with families and 9-5ish jobs.
 

AM75

Hall of Fame
It's so frustrating to root for Karatsev, the way his any given match will turn out is quite unpredictable.
 

yokied

Hall of Fame
Sad times. His sponsors better have a word with him and get his head screwed back on before he misses out on winning Indian Wells and Paris to make Turin.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Feels pretty make or break down the home stretch of the season here. So much of his ranking is tied up in that AO result he likely won't be able to reproduce. Really needs to stack points to stem the future tide.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Feels pretty make or break down the home stretch of the season here. So much of his ranking is tied up in that AO result he likely won't be able to reproduce. Really needs to stack points to stem the future tide.
Dubai title plus Belgrade final almost equals AO SF. The fuse is a bit longer than January but you’re spot on that he needs points now to a) maintain seeding (nice spiff getting a bye this week) and b) give him some confidence.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Young people won't remember this, but Karatsev reminds me of 2003 Rainer Schuettler
Schuettler went one round further there and also made Wimby’08 SFs, something I’m not seeing in Karatsev’s future. The German also was DE into AO’03 so he avoided having to qualify because of a far superior record before his surprise deep run. He had already won two ATP titles as well. Karatsev was on extremely virgin territory in February.

Stylewise, absolutely no parallel. Schuettler is inches shorter and was quite slender to enable his nice movement.

The better parallel of coming out of nowhere for a breakout slam happened 3 years earlier when Vladimir Voltchkov made Wimby SFs. His best slam result before (or after) was 2R.
 

norcal

Legend
We need volunteer @sureshs to use his courtside access at San Diego to take closeups of The Lion’s overly developed gastrocnemius muscles.

I already requested this in his SD travel thread. I have noticed Indian players tend to have skinny calves (as do I but I'm not Indian) so Suresh could possibly help the Indian next gen gain a competitive edge by learning the Lion's secrets.
 

AM75

Hall of Fame
Karatsev can't have a break. Other players know how to fight him. So now every time he leads, his opponents take medical time-outs ;)
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
IW draw is fairly smooth for Karatsev. After the earned bye, 2R will be against a qualifier or teen WC Svajda. Then, the higher seed in that section is slumping Shapo. 4R on paper would be Hurkacz, his victim in SD last week. Medvedev QF???
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The qualifier who earned a 2R matchup with Karatsev by rolling the teen Svajda is Salvatore Caruso. He also defeated Karatsev in 2018 at the Potoroz (SLO) Challenger 3&3 on HCs.
 

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
Will Lion stand a chance against Shapo? :rolleyes:
could be a fun match if both are on :cool:

... #wings @MichaelNadal ? :unsure:
bbq-chicken-wings-in-bucket-flag-of-canada-on-a-wooden-table-and-black-background-W3EKKB.jpg


t-shirt-kgb-lenine-parodie-kfc-urss.jpg
 

yokied

Hall of Fame
No idea which Aslan will show up to board the Canadian Hypetrain #2, but watch the 1st set vs Caruso for some top shelf loltastic laser beam Aslanery @Checkmate. Even a linesgirl copped one (admittedly a no-speed sprayed Aslan return).

Caruso had the trademark "WTF is this" look at around halfway through the bagel. Aslan has absolutely no business losing to anyone outside the top 5 on HC or clay. Just no business at all.
 

initialize

Hall of Fame
Aslan's shorter ball toss on serve seems to really benefit him compared to Shapo in these windy conditions.


That being said, let's go Aslan!!!
 

Notorious_Junkballer

Hall of Fame
Like Murray said, the courts are desperately slow and that's why you don't get too many free points with serve. This might even things up a bit for Aslan. But he has to get his second serve in. Though Shapo came up with even more UEs in the end.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Like Murray said, the courts are desperately slow and that's why you don't get too many free points with serve. This might even things up a bit for Aslan. But he has to get his second serve in. Though Shapo came up with even more UEs in the end.
Didn’t stop Harris from getting 18 aces vs Ruud yesterday. That can’t be purely from Ruud not reading service direction very well.
 
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