Deborah Curtis-Seitchell
THE withdrawal of Novak Djokovic from the Miami Masters shuffled the draw significantly enough for a few underdogs to shine in the Floridian sunshine, albeit for limited runs.
In front of predominantly Latino crowds, it was Chilean Nicolas Jarry and Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild who delivered the most inspired performances of the week.
Jarry first took down Britain’s Jack Draper, then Seyboth Wild and finally seventh seed Casper Ruud to reach the quarter-finals, before being brought to heel by defending champion Daniil Medvedev.
The Brazilian caused a major upset in dismissing American No 1 Taylor Fritz with a 96% first serve success rate before falling prey to Jarry.
The fact that the Americans have been collectively eclipsed on home soil has been a dampener, together with rain delays. Local hopes Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff were waving the Hard Rock Stadium goodbye by round two.
Ironically, the last American standing is unseeded Danielle Collins, playing her swansong in Miami after announcing her retirement next year, who faces Kazakhstani fourth seed Elena Rybakina in today’s women’s final.
Collins reached the semi-finals in her 2018 debut, making history as the first qualifier to do so. Six years later she has reached the final, toppling former world No 4 Caroline Garcia, who in turn had beaten US Open champions Naomi Osaka and Gauff to get to the last eight herself. So, hats off to Collins for keeping the flagging star spangled banner flying high in an Olympic year.
Meanwhile, absent world No 1 Djokovic was stealing the limelight from afar by breaking the news that he and long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic have amicably parted company.
Despite Djokovic’s glowing comments about his friend and former mentor, and the undeniable fact that theirs was a successful partnership with 12 more Grand Slam titles, this has been a long overdue decision with their fractious on-court chemistry smouldering since Wimbledon 2023.
It further explains Djokovic’s reason for giving Miami a miss and making a calculated decision to wipe the slate clean before the clay court season, Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics.
As Roger Federer’s former coach Ivan Ljubicic put it: “Djokovic’s fire has not been stoked in 2024. He must play with fire inside him or he’s missing something (ie, motivation).
“He hasn’t forgotten how to play; he has time to get back to his best if only someone can light his fire.”
The big question is, who will that person be?
The only area of the GOAT’s game in need of tinkering is his short game, considering how many aggressive young players are wielding a big serve-and-volley game as a hard core weapon – not least of all Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and Danish No 1 Holger Rune, and as illustrated in Miami by Jarry and Fabian Marozsan.
The best coaches in terms of their volleying skills are Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, neither of whom are necessarily willing or available. Bekker has been in Djokovic’s camp before, for three years in another highly successful match-up.
Finally, never say never again as ‘Baby Federer’ Grigor Dimitrov demonstrated with his lethal one-handed backhand and superb touch, in laying waste to Spanish dragon Alcaraz in a quarter-final clash to remember. To witness two mercurial players with that rare ability to mix up their game is tantamount to receiving two Faberge eggs for Easter.
Dimitrov, seeded 11th, deserves to be a finalist (he faces fourth seed Alexander Zverev in today’s semis) for the sake of the waning club of beautiful one-handed backhanders and to remind us of the maestro he continues to emulate – the one and only Federer.