"Cream of the Crop" Beanalysis: Sofia Round One

So… As I sit looking at this first round, I realize, this first round doesn’t look that good. There’s a lot of matches that I would skip over in a normal “Cream of the Crop” so, I decided if I tried to search for filler matches to put in here, it would defeat the point of this. I started this to give my thoughts on the big ticket matches, the ones that are gonna be good to watch. So I’ve decided to stop limiting myself to a specific number of matches, and also make it to where I’m not pressured to use low-tier matches as filler, because the whole point of this was to not give a bunch of filler. SO! This just means that there won’t be a set number of matches to expect every time, but it will probably stay within the range of 4, until the Semifinals, where I switch to doing all of the matches. Not a lot of change, just thought I’d let you know.

Van Rijthoven vs. Rune

TIM IS BACK EVERYONE! Well, he was back at the US Open, but now he’s back at regular tour tournaments! After an incredible win at Rosmalen on the grass, and then a heroic 4th round run at Wimbledon, Tim had an unfortunate injury, and missed out on most of the NA hard swing. He played at the US Open, making the second round, and bowing out to Ruud, because everyone lost to Ruud except Alcaraz. Tim had a thriller first round there, and just a thrilling summer (summer for the northern hemisphere, at least) in general. I love this guy, but of course, his game is not suited for the hard courts as well as it is for the grass. I still think he can make a good showing at the hard court tournaments, but sadly, Tim got the short end of the Rune stick, and caught him on his rise back to form. He made the Quarterfinals at Metz last week, although that just took winning one match, since he got a bye. Tim is not quite at the level where he can upset a seeded player in the first round, of course, had it been last week, I would’ve definitely hopped on the Tim Train. Tim is good enough to make a good showing on the challenger tour, but he has not broken onto the main tour besides the grass tournaments.

Rune is back for another European 250, and I don’t think we are ready for his shenanigans, he could make round two, he could make the semifinals, he is very unpredictable. Ring, Ring “Hello? Rune plays Sonego in round two? Oh, ok, thanks.” I have received news that Rune will not be progressing past round two. Anyways, he missed out on a bye, and also got a bad draw. I don’t think he will lose here, but he definitely won’t be making a deep run at this tournament. I do think that Rune has a lot of potential, but he has yet to tap into it. Of course, he is young, and that can play a crucial role in someone’s actual level vs. their potential. I like Rune in this match, simply because Tim is not at a place where he can win these kinds of matches on a consistent basis, but it’s Rune, who knows what will happen. I think it’s gonna go to three in Rune’s favor, but I would not be surprised if it goes to 3 in Tim’s favor.

Humbert vs. Kuzmanov

Ugo Humbert is in a bad place right now, he had a total of four wins this year leading up to Wimbledon, where he made a good showing, beating Ruud, who as you might know, should have won Wimbledon after his golf course training sessions. So that’s cool. After Wimbledon, he plummeted down to the challenger level, where he was stuck until now. Well, he did play the US Open as a Wild Card. I do enjoy Humbert playing, and he’s on the cusp of returning to the main draws, and a good tournament here would cement that. I think he’s got the draw for it as well, after Jack Draper withdrew, he’s got no seeded players until the quarterfinals, and Musetti went out early last week, so anything can happen. I know last week I said the same thing about Thiem, but this time, there’s no Hurkacz in the way. I used to not like Humbert because he always beat my favorite players and ruined my Pick the Draws, but I have gone through character development and now I am a better person who respects players who can pull off upsets. Humbert is a favorite here, but in the future rounds here, if he can get himself going, he can make a jab at winning.

Humbert is on the cusp of returning to the main tour, while Kuzmanov is on the cusp of leaving my mind entirely. I remember now, he’s the guy that got extremely close to qualifying for a slam, and lost in round three at all of them this year. Apparently he is the second highest ranked Bulgarian player. He’s ranked 167. The difference between the highest ranked Bulgarian player, Dimitrov, and the second highest ranked Bulgarian player, Kuzmanov, is 144 ranking spots. Yikes for Bulgarian tennis. I don’t know a single thing about this guy, but by the looks of his results, he doesn’t look capable of winning this thing, sorry buddy, Dimitrov stays on top for now. This match could be the beginning of the penultimate return of Humbert, and I’m all for it. LET’S GO UGO! Humbert in 2.

Verdasco vs. Basilashvili

ANOTHER OLD MAN OUT OF HIS PRIME? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can feel the contents of my bank account leaving. Actually, no, I can’t because there’s no way Basil chokes this one, right? Surely not. I wouldn’t have even gone with Stan this week, if he didn’t withdraw, because of how tired he looked in the quarterfinal last week against Ymer. Verdasco was good a long time ago, but it seems that those times are far in the past, and there is nothing that we can do about it but cry because all of our favorite players are gonna retire soon. I think Stan has a little bit left in him, and Novak and Rafa don’t look like they are going anywhere, which is good, because we can only take so many legends retiring in a year. I wish we could time travel, because 2012-2015 would be a heck of a time to watch tennis live. Sadly, we can’t. And now all we have is the leftovers from these guys’ primes. What am I talking about, am I even talking about tennis? Is this legal? Am I gonna get fired? Am I just putting in filler? No, I’m not. Sorry about that existential crisis. We all enjoyed Verdasco, but sadly, there isn’t much left to enjoy. I doubt this match goes to him at all.

Nikoloz Basilashvili, my good old friend, you finally get something favorable, except you don’t because Fognini awaits you in round two. I think this week goes a little like last week for Basil, sadly. He plays some very powerful tennis, but like I said last week, he lacks the accuracy to be much of a threat to anyone with some good shots in their arsenal. I think Basil has some character development to undergo as well, he seems a bit spirally, as in, he spirals out of control when he starts to lose. I think he won’t be losing here, but it is very possible that he gets that way in round two. I think he has a good serve as well, but he just simply cannot back the best parts of his game up with other traits. It seems he spent all of his character points on a few categories, and didn’t leave any for the other stuff. I like Basil winning here, and I don’t think Verdasco can do much of anything to him. Basil in 2.