Djere, Van De Zandschulp & More In Action | Astana 2023 Highlights Day 1

Me: mom I want to go see Medvedev and Djokovic play in Manhattan.
Mom: we already have them at home
What we have at home: Medjedovic

I was about to say what is Medvedev doing in a atp 250 tournament 😅

Borges match was amazing because not one single person in the building was rooting for him vs the home favorite and he still pulled out on top. Probably a match he SHOULD win but under the circumstances it was 100x harder.

How come every time I see VDZ play, he always looks like he needs to take a dump.

Медведев + Джокович = Медьедович

Shevchenko was the picture of intensity in this match, stunning stuff to see

The clothes switch between Borges and Kukushkin confused me

I watched the D1 Astana matches. Each was better than the last. Felt bad for Djere having to retire. As soon as I saw the tape sticking out his shirt, I said uh oh. He just couldn’t fight the pain. Shevie played really well against VanZan to win 6-4 6-4. Probably the most respectable match in that both guys were focused, but the best match by far in terms of drama & fight was the three set battle between Borges & wild card entry, Kukushkin. Borges won 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 but not before hopefully learning some lessons along the way. The crowd gave the Portuguese youth no love, there were lots of strange calls & challenges (or lack thereof) throughout the match, a distraction from the audience that made both players slow down mid-rally & look up, & both players gave the umpire a hard time. So what really happened? Follow this racket…

MATCH SUMMARY
Everything was progressing normally. Both players were holding serve, & fighting to defend. Borges started the match stronger against Kukushkin who took more time to find his footing & rhythm & made more errors. The hinge of the entire match was absolutely at 5-4 in the 1st set. Upon serving for the set, Borges’ worst traits show up at the most inopportune time. He became impatient and immature in his play. All of a sudden his youth was a liability. The very machismo that helped Borges succeed as an aggressive player would be his undoing in an instant! He tried to rush shots, go for too much, and engaged in sloppy play almost as if he was trying to overcompensate for the uncertainty in his ability to close out the set comfortably at 6-4. The wild errors only frustrated him more & an older, patient Kukushkin broke him to level the set at 5 all. The errors continued & before you could look say Ficciones, Borges was on the Forking Paths to witnessing match defeat by his own hand.

During the set break, Borges exchanged heated words with the umpire over a bad call/lack of call during the previous set. The umpire was in no mood to be heckled by a losing player & grabbed his walkie-talkie to talk to officials. Borges looked to be in trouble if he didn’t settle down fast. The 2nd set began & things were precarious in Porto. Borges’ energy inkwell had run dry in frustration & self-doubt. Kukushkin found himself up 3-1 before things started to even out. 3-1 became 3-2 became 3 all & from that moment on Borges began to write his own destiny. But he sill wasn’t out of the Garden of Blindness just yet. Kukushkin was still full of self-belief that maybe he would fight his way out of the purgatorial vortex of the C-tour. Things leveled at 4 all.

All of a sudden it was mirror vu: deja vu in reverse. Borges was up 5-4 in the 1st and lost what would happen at 5-4 in the 2nd now that he was down? He fought to bring things level to 5 all & then the self-belief kicked in. Then and there, Borges chose to buckle down win the match. He and Kuku held serve to bring the match to a tiebreaker. Though Borges was ahead, Kuku nipped at his heels as the scoreline zoomed from 4-2 to 6 all. Push! was the word of the day as Borges verbally willed himself throughout the 2nd set to win. And so he did.

During the set break, Kuku went for a kit change, but took too long to return. Borges tried to pressure the umpire into giving Kuku a point deduction, but the restless youth was premature. The clock ticked on. Like Zverev in his Chengdu final, Borges barely sat down, so eager to press on the wings of Nike. but had Borges learned his lesson? The third set was upon them & the score was 1 all before match momentum became clear. Kuku seemed slower, more fatigued, just a half step slower. The close scoreline, it seems, had not worked in his favor. Borges raced to a 3-1 lead in a pin drop arena before Kuku fought back to close the gap 4-2. No matter, blood was on the ball. Kuku couldn’t win so long as Borges held serve. 4-2 became 5-3 became 6-4. Borges roared in front of a muted audience clearly unhappy with the result. Home soil held no advantage. Kuku slinked off to circle the C-tour drain with Saffiulin once more. Tennis salvation had a wait list.

BORGES’ GAMEPLAY ISSUES
Borges showed commendable mental toughness against his own character flaws which cost him the 1st set, a crowd unwilling to root for him, & curious uncalled line calls. If Borges wants to move up the rankings, however, he needs to work on his shot selection, shot depth, recovery stance, & transition game.

1) Shot Selection: Please for the love of Slams stop trying to be something you’re not! Much like Korda in his losing Zhuhai SF match & VanZan in his losing R1 Astana match, Borges overused sloppy drop shot to his detriment. Spain is neighbors with Portugal, but that doesn’t mean you can poach from Alcaraz & get away with it. Players need to stop trying to turn the drop shot into an offensive weapon. It’s never going to happen! Alcaraz coming away empty-handed during the North American hard court summer swing should tell you that. All of these young players are trying to poach from the best, but as with singing, just because you have a wide range doesn’t mean you’re the next Mariah Carey.

Those weak drop shots in an effort to bail out of rallies cost Borges precious points. Additionally, he tried low percentage shots at the wrong time (including going over the high part of the net) in an effort to muscle the ball & alpha dog the point. Tennis will always make you pay when you try to avoid playing the point or when you play with ego & bravado. It’s easier to play clean tennis in pressure moments & win with less showy play by drawing the error from your opponent than it is to play from behind as a result of unnecessary risk. Borges learned that lesson by the 3rd set.

2) Movement & Transition Game: Borges tried many times to move Kuku around the court & stretch him out, but Kuku had better movement, reach, & was able to change direction to catch his opponent off guard more often. Borges needs to work on his recovery. So often he would become too still & upright just watching the ball pass by instead of focusing on ways to move forward into the court. Certain shots from Kuku were makable if Borges’ recovery position & movement were better. He gets caught flat-footed when in the center & sliding & bambi-like out wide.

Borges waits too long to take the ball. He waits until it hits the baseline which you don’t have to do. Borges had plenty of opportunities to move forward into the court, take Kuku’s slower balls earlier/on the rise, & change direction before giving Kuku the chance to get into a rally, but chose to let the ball dip & hit the baseline. Borges play just wasn’t aggressive enough & that meant he couldn’t break serve often enough & had to work much harder in the first two sets.

3) Depth: Too many of Borges’ shots lacked consistent depth. This enabled Kuku to engage him in rallies, change pace, work angles, & move forward to pin Borges behind the baseline. Kuku had Borges on the run knowing the youth would lose control of the ball. When Borges did step in a few feet closer to the baseline & inside it, he often performed better in rallies. Kuku also challenged Borges with serves out wide & Borges didn’t catch onto the patterns. From 5 all in the 2nd to leading 3-1 in the 3rd, Borges did focus on staying in the rallies & became more patient to draw the error from Kuku.

BWEEEH!!!

Djokovic + Medvedev = Medjedovic