That's why he is the favorite to win the U.S. Open! Only problem is he had a dead right shoulder in the finals against Andy Murray last out and had to retire after losing the first set. The question is will his shoulder stand up the whole tournament plus this year, the U.S. Open fast surface is actually a bit slower then usual and fluffing up the balls and slowing them down. This could also cause concern for him when they get to the semi-finals next week.
The 28 year old Berlocq in his entire career has 4 ATP level hard court victories. He is a clay court specialist who throughout his career has mainly been featuring on the challenger circuit with limited success when he stepped it up to the ATP level events.
Why on earth they would feature this match in prime time is beyond comprehension. The USTA seems to love putting the top 3-4 players in the world in the night matches the first week even though they are playing qualifiers and guys who would not be ranked in the top 100 on this surface. Maybe its just me but I don't want to watch Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray hammering an overmatched opponent for an hour and a half. I know the tournament wants the top guys to sell the night tickets but a top 10 player against a competent opponent will do the job just as fine and provide 10x the entertainment value. The top guys can feature at night in the second week when they are playing good competition. Rant over.
Why on earth they would feature this match in prime time is beyond comprehension. The USTA seems to love putting the top 3-4 players in the world in the night matches the first week even though they are playing qualifiers and guys who would not be ranked in the top 100 on this surface. Maybe its just me but I don't want to watch Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray hammering an overmatched opponent for an hour and a half. I know the tournament wants the top guys to sell the night tickets but a top 10 player against a competent opponent will do the job just as fine and provide 10x the entertainment value. The top guys can feature at night in the second week when they are playing good competition. Rant over.
