Yippee KI-Yay, Yibing Wu!

stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The young Chinese pro has a meteoric rankings path from outside the top 1000 in March 2022 to a new career high #90 after a 2R Dallas ATP250 victory over the #3 seed Denis Shapovalov. John McClane would be so excited over this die hard effort to crack the top 100 and climb even further.

Wu gets the day off Thursday and will face the survivor of the 2R match between Adrian Mannarino and Jordan Thompson. His level vs Shapo suggests he has a solid chance to get into the SFs (top half #1 seed is Fritz) that could feature an all USO Boys champs matchup (Fritz plays Sock Thursday). Sock was tops there in 2010; Fritz in 2015; Wu in 2017.
 
Saw him play in Hong Kong last years. Lost in the tie-break of the last set against Fritz. Was very impressed by the smoothness of his strokes and movement.
 
This kid is playing some of the best tennis! He’s working the ball on a string back & forth on the court. Mannarino I think just asked him if he was going to miss a shot.
 
I hadn’t heard of Wu before I saw him live at the Cleveland challenger. He’s a really clean ball striker. That was a nice win for Kovacevic.
 
They said he was worlds # 1 junior in 2017, but then was out of tennis for 3 years with injuries. He’s playing a very high level again, I hope he stays healthy. His match with Fritz should be good, I give him a chance for big upset the way he’s playing.
 
KC! said:
They said he was worlds # 1 junior in 2017, but then was out of tennis for 3 years with injuries. He’s playing a very high level again, I hope he stays healthy. His match with Fritz should be good, I give him a chance for big upset the way he’s playing.
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He won USO’17 Boys so tonight’s matchup features the 2015 vs 2017 champions and Fritz faces a second successive USO Boys champ (Sock in 2010).

After the Boys title, Wu played a few pro tournaments on WCs, winning a Challenger in Shanghai but he lost 1R at Tour level twice. Last year’s Challenger run (3 titles), qualifying at USO and winning two matches before running into Med showed promise. His most disappointing result in the past year was losing 1R AO in five to Moutet.
 
This match with Fritz is not disappointing. Wu just broke Fritz & about ready to go to a 3rd set.
 
stringertom said:
The young Chinese pro has a meteoric rankings path from outside the top 1000 in March 2022 to a new career high #90 after a 2R Dallas ATP250 victory over the #3 seed Denis Shapovalov. John McClane would be so excited over this die hard effort to crack the top 100 and climb even further.

Wu gets the day off Thursday and will face the survivor of the 2R match between Adrian Mannarino and Jordan Thompson. His level vs Shapo suggests he has a solid chance to get into the SFs (top half #1 seed is Fritz) that could feature an all USO Boys champs matchup (Fritz plays Sock Thursday). Sock was tops there in 2010; Fritz in 2015; Wu in 2017.
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Hell Yeah! Let’s go Wu! Just beat Fritz
 
Yibing, as John McClane would attest, is dying very hard, he’s just the fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench, the pain in the a$s. Yippee-Kay-Yay, he’s ready to walk off in the sunset like Gary Cooper with Grace Kelly. Saw Big John down to the size tomorrow!
 
The way he’s able to work players side to side is Djokovic-ish. He’s playing like top 20 player, he’ll be there soon if he keeps up this level of tennis up. That was a great match to watch, Wu & Fritz both played well.
 
Hope he stays injury free. He is one of the few players who has a distinctive attacking style and is fun to watch.
 
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Yibing is off to Delray Beach next week, having earned a SE into the draw. He is in the bottom half and will play a qualifier 1R. A win will earn a matchup with #4 seed Kecmanovic.
 
stringertom said:
Yibing is off to Delray Beach next week, having earned a SE into the draw. He is in the bottom half and will play a qualifier 1R. A win will earn a matchup with #4 seed Kecmanovic.
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He will beat Kecmanovic, so should be another good tournament for him.
 
stringertom said:
Yibing is off to Delray Beach next week, having earned a SE into the draw. He is in the bottom half and will play a qualifier 1R. A win will earn a matchup with #4 seed Kecmanovic.
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I think that would come dangerously close to overplaying. He played a Challenger last week, losing a tough 3-setter in the final to Kovacevic and now he's into this final too

The wise option here is to withdraw from Del Ray Beach
 
his forehand is better than novak's

220901052535-02-wu-yibing-us-open-220831-super-tease.jpg
 
jm1980 said:
I think that would come dangerously close to overplaying. He played a Challenger last week, losing a tough 3-setter in the final to Kovacevic and now he's into this final too

The wise option here is to withdraw from Del Ray Beach
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Yeah, give up the SE while he’s playing great tennis. He’s 23 and will be fine, especially in light of the fact that the following week is vacant of ATP Tour play in North America. Plenty of time to recover before his next tournament (ask for a WC or qualies at Acapulco instead of the Monterrey Challenger?)
 
So, another player riddled with early injuries showing up and demonstrating he has nice strokes. What was really interesting about the Fritz match is that he outthought Fritz on most of the points and demonstrated some amazing court coverage to frustrate the American into hitting some poor shots. Will he be Nishikori fragile? Time will tell. Could be an exciting player if his body is not made of glass....
 
Wow! John McClane is a great tutor for Yippee Yibing Wu! He made Homeboy Isner die hard in a thriller, 3 TBs and the last one full of Championship Points for both (14-12!). Has to be in the running for match of the year when we get around to 2023 wrap up.

Congrats on a first title. He joins Griekspoor as newbie champions in 2023 (separate thread up if you want to celebrate there too). Monitoring Coria to see if he gets in at Córdoba.
 
KC! said:
I agree , his style is very fun to watch. I’m American & it was hard not to be rooting for Wu though.
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I'm an American too and was still rooting for him over American Isner. Nationalities don't matter in tennis to me... the kid's got game and a really refreshing personality. I'd never heard of him prior to last week.

He does need to work on his slice though - it sits up and the better players will destroy it. ;)
 
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Wu was pretty impressive this week, but I've been told his win this week was all a setup.

Oops, wrong thread

Seriously though, his forehand reminded me of Alcaraz', he moves well, his backhand is pretty steady and he's not too averse to moving forward. Looking forward to seeing more.
 
jm1980 said:
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It seems that he's using a straight-arm forehand. I had thought that straight-arm forehands would disappear with so many next-gen players using extreme grips these days. However, Tsitsipas, Rublev, Rune, Alcaraz, Zverev, and now Wu seem to be using straight-arm or a straightish i.e. slight bent-arm forehand.
 
The schedule page at live-score shows Wu will need to qualify for IW so he has a long block to prepare for what could be a 9-match gauntlet if he were to make the final. No Monterrey this week, no Acapulco next week.
 
stringertom said:
The schedule page at live-score shows Wu will need to qualify for IW so he has a long block to prepare for what could be a 9-match gauntlet if he were to make the final. No Monterrey this week, no Acapulco next week.
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I think they have a few more wild cards to give out. It would be great if they gave one to him, it would be well deserved. And it would be great for tennis too, he brings in a big viewing for the sport.
 
WU is into Indian Wells receiving wildcard! Smart Move by Tommy Haas & well deserved by WU!
 
Disappointing loss to Fokina. Was at the match today for the first set. Good points, few loose errors. Then the rain came and it was a wrap for Wu. Fokina played some great tennis.
 
FedIsBetterer said:
Disappointing loss to Fokina. Was at the match today for the first set. Good points, few loose errors. Then the rain came and it was a wrap for Wu. Fokina played some great tennis.
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These super slow sandpaper hardcourts don’t suit Wu’s game, he should have a bigger chance in Cincinnati or Shanghai. His game is made for fast hardcourts.
 
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