Isner glory in absence of Big Four
ThEy were packing up for the final time at Crandon Park last night after John Isner beat Alex Zverev to win the Miami open.
next year this Masters level event will move from its idyllic location of Key Biscayne to a more perfunctory new stadium, constructed largely on a parking lot at the Miami Dolphins stadium in a far less salubrious inland suburb.
time has caught up with the charismatic but somewhat outdated old venue, and it is tempting to see the tournament’s relocation as a metaphor for the way the men’s game is heading.
this edition was the first time since hamburg 2006 that none of the so-called Big Four had appeared in the third round of an event at this level. A degree of anxiety could be sensed behind the scenes once Roger Federer had been eliminated from the second round, following followbled the exit of the troubled novak Djokovic the he previous day.
nobody quite knows where this will end up, but yesterday’s final was another signal that the established order is starting to crumble.
Federer was to confirm m he will skip the whole clay ay court season to preservee his ageing body, and he will probably proba never play on the surface.
Rafael nadal made an early withdrawal from his last three scheduled hard court events, including Miami, with more knee problems.
there is a growing fear over how tennis will recover from the eventual retirements of these two legends, a sense that when Federer and nadal sneeze the whole game will catch a cold.
Djokovic’s coach/consultant Andre Agassi walked this weekend, and the Serb looks lost for now. there are encouraging noises emanating from the Andy Murray camp, but the future for this slightly younger pair of great rivals remains uncertain.
nervous talk behind the scenes about the state of big names in Miami floated along on another worrying undercurrent, that about the status of the Davis Cup and the possible clash with a rival World team Cup, promoted by the AtP tour.
Discussions are ongoing but an outcome of two similar one-week events, being staged within six weeks of each other in november and January, is deeply undesirable.
Dave haggerty and Englishman Chris Kermode, leaders of the International tennis Federation and AtP respectively, are good people who genuinely care about the game. Surely they can work something out for the greater good.
For all the prevailing air of nervousness not all is doom and gloom, as last night’s engaging final showshowed. the problem was thathat the country’s third bibiggest tennis tournament did not exactly seem the topic of water cooler conversation around the US.
Miami champion Isner hhas been America’s mmost consistent male peperformer in recent years — wwith 11 of his 13 titles coming on home soil — but has limited traction in a nation used to superstars.
Zverev looks the part with his unquestioned talent and tousled blonde hair but has failed to make much impression at the Grand Slams as yet. he will probably do so in future, and his youthful stroppiness also marks him out as something a bit different.
that petulance showed itself in Miami as the 20-year-old smashed his racket after conceding the crucial break in the deciding set.
For Isner it was a first Masters level title as he edged it 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, helped by 18 aces in what was a gripping contest and a decent way for this tournament to say farewell to its island paradise.