With the end of March
quickly approaching tennis fans across the globe will soon be treated to the
varying finals of the Miami Open, and the
2025
tournament
has already created plenty of headlines with players both finding their form,
as well as some unexpectedly seeing it desert them.
As is usual in the
modern game of tennis,
Betway Insider are all over the action in their blog and column
coverage, and for this years Miami Open former professional Andy Roddick has
been giving his thoughts on the unfolding events in his role as their Global
Tennis Ambassador and Jannik Sinner featured heavily in his recent column.
With 23 year old
Italian and current World Number 1 Sinner yet to return to the sport following
WADA serving him with their suspension, the 42 year old United States born
former US Open winner had been adamant that his lack of involvement in
tournaments during his suspension would leave the men's side of the game wide
open when it came to the potential finalists, and the eventual winners, and he
sees no reason to change his original thoughts given how things are now playing
out. For those tennis fans who are enjoying a small flutter on the Miami Open, the chances for a more unexpected winner would
undoubtedly provide some interesting odds to follow.
He pointed to Indian
Wells as being proof of the pudding, as with
Jack Draper (13th seed) and Holger Rune (12th seed) ultimately
contesting the final, he felt that tennis fans had not seen tournaments being
so open where anyone could reach the final stages in that manner since the
early 2000's and obviously he felt that this had massively increased the
excitement for fans, and that ultimately it was great for the sport as more
players obviously felt that they were truly in with a chance of lifting
silverware in a way that was not normally the case given how the game is
dominated by a more select few names in usual circumstances.
Having referenced Draper who went on to conquer Rune in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) at Indian Wells, the 23 year old London born left hander came in for particular praise for his recent overall improvement as a more consistent player, as ultimately that had put him in the position to take the victory in the final.
Roddick pointed out
how much he had improved his fitness for the tournament, and whilst his game
play had improved he felt he had made significant strides in his backhand and
choices of shots, particularly how he was returning and breaking serve across the
tournament and had become less reliant on his own strength and power with his
'big lefty serve' and he felt that he had broken a few 'lazy narratives' about
his style of play by doing that.
However, he also felt that he had plenty of
improvement that he could still make to his game before he could really call,
or consider himself, proven as one of the top players currently in the game -
but he felt that he was now definitely on track to begin getting there as he
had begun playing like he had finally found a new belief in his own game and
was trusting himself more.
As we see out the excitement that remains in
Miami, Roddick will clearly be keeping his eye on the steps that Draper makes as we progress further through the 2025
calendar.