Miami Masters 1000 Preview:
The reigning champion, Novak Djokovic is looking to complete a second consecutive sweep of the first portion of the America Masters swing. Today, the preview will cover who the favourites are, dark horses, non-ranked players with the potential to make a deep run, and ranked players with the potential to have an early exit.
Men's
Favourite: Novak Djokovic - The reigning Miami Masters champion is coming off of an Indian Wells title over Roger Federer and is looking to make it back-to-back years of sweeping the hard court Masters in the spring. Last year, the then world number two cruised in all of his matches leading into the finals and even won by walkover twice. In the finals, he set up a showdown with Big Four rival, Rafael Nadal. Nadal was looking to capture his first ever Miami Masters, but Djokovic was simply just too dominant on the day. He dictated from the baseline, which is massive against Nadal as he made him play defence from the get-go. Look for Djokovic to make at least a semi-final appearance given the way he is playing.
Dark Horse: Tomas Berdych - The Czech is coming off a mentally damaging loss to Federer in the quarter-finals of Indian Wells. With Federer opting out of this week's tournament, the Czech must be buzzing at the draw he recieved. Should he get to the fourth round, he will be up against streaky Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Gael Monfils. In the quarters, he would potentially go up against Nadal. In years past, drawing Nadal would have given Berdych nightmares, but after dismantling him in Australia, he should have the confidence to beat him again. A semi-final showdown against Stan Wawrinka or Andy Murray may play into his hands because of the speed of the court as it plays faster than Indian Wells.
Dark Horse: Rafael Nadal - I know what you're thinking, how in the world can the world number three and second-seeded player be a dark horse? So far Nadal has pretty much gone under the radar this year with only one title (Buenos Aires), to his name. A quarter-finals appearance in Australia and Indian Wells have really been his other highlights for the season. Not many have Nadal even as the second favourite for Miami despite his number two seeding. With a possible showdown against Berdych in the quarter-finals looming, the Spaniard is looking to exact revenge on the Czech and knock him out. We all know that if there is a Djokovic-Nadal final, the stakes are at its highest, and the game changes. They force each other to do something other than what they are comfortable with in hopes to beat one another. If that final does happen, the tennis world is in for another treat.
Sleeper: Steve Johnson - Johnson has taken a different route compared to most if not all the top 100. He played all four years of tennis at USC and is now thriving at the professional level. His hard work and dedication has now gotten him into the top fifty and with his results last week (third round of Indian Wells) he is continuing his way up hopefully soon into the top thirty-two. He defeated the 21 seed, Ivo Karlovic, on his way to the third round loss toBerdych. He showed he can prove he can beat players ranked higher than him with his victory over Karlovic, so his next step is to follow that kind of victory with another one. His draw was fairly kind to him facing off against Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round. With a victory over Kukushkin, he'll set up a showdown with Gilles Simon. The Frenchman would provide a less difficult match for Johnson compared to Karlovic because Simon's game is all consistency; he does not have a go-to shot. After that, another possible match with Karlovic could be on the way.
Sleeper: Borna Coric - The young Croatian teenager burst out onto the scene near the end of the tennis season with an upset victory over Nadal. Just like Johnson, hehas been handed a draw he should be content with. He's set to face Austrian player Andreas Haider-Maurer in his opener, and with a victory, he would be up against David Goffin. Coric's playstyle is a power game based off a booming serve and forehand, and that could pose Goffin problems because like Simon, Goffin's strength is consistency. Bautista Agut would likely be the next man up.
Early Exit: Fabio Fognini - The Italian is one the most interesting characters on tour. He plays in spurts where some moments he looks unbeatable, other times, he's the most erratic player you have ever seen. Jack Sock or Go Soeda are his possible second round opponents. For Soeda to win, he just has to be consistent, which sometimes Fognini is not. For Sock to win, he's going to have to go his trusty serve and forehand to win that showdown. Without a doubt Sock would be the player Fognini is more worried about because of his power and spin, but either man could beat him which should worry the Italian heavily.
Early Exit: Ernests Gulbis - It's going to sound pretty redundant at this point, but picking this man to exit early is a near shoo-in. His odd forehand technique doesn't help either because if he's not getting that consistently, the rest of his game suffers. The enigmatic Latvian is 1-6 on the year with his lone win coming last week against lucky loser Daniel Gimeno-Traver before losing to Adrian Mannarino in the next round. With that lone win to his name, he is virtually bound to get knocked out early. No confidence and an error-filled play style is just not the right recipe for a win and his draw does him no favours either. Juan Monaco or a qualifier would beat him and either would be savouring the opportunity to knock off a top-fifteen player.