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  • Delray Beach Summary

    2/18/08 12:01 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    - Kei Nishikori. Not much else to say, really. The 18 year old Japanese qualifier was the story of the tournament without a doubt.

    But of course, there were other stories as well. Robby Ginepri, ranked in the top 20 as little as 2 years ago slipped to 169. He had only won a single match since last years US Open. He recovers here and plays very well to reach the semis. He could have won, but Blake was able to come back. Things are looking up at the moment for Ginepri.

    James Blake, the top seed known for rollercoaster matches, mental fragility, a crazy forehand and a king of small titles couldn't pull off this one. Sam Querrey, the huge young American made the semifinals, but unless he improves his movement and court sense, he will hover around the top 60 his whole career.

    There was also the fact that 6 of the 8 quarterfinalists at this event were American. The unfortunate part was they none of them could win it. However, it does help that American players are actually winning matches, as many have called them irrelevent in the tennis world.

    The first round upsets of Tommy Haas and Xavier Malisse were serious blows to the tournament. Hopefully those two can remain healthy as both have tremendous talent and bad luck with injuries. The mid-week rain was also a bit of a hinderance.

    One final note was the first round affair between Donald Young and Amer Delic. Young has long been tagged as American tennis' future. I still believe that can come to fruition, but he can't lose 5-0 leads in sets and certainly can't continue to launch rackets out of the stadium. He has great talent, but his mind is on another planet. (Marat Safin, anyone?)

    See you in San Jose.

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