{"id":4464,"date":"2021-05-26T08:19:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T08:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/?p=4464"},"modified":"2021-05-26T08:19:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T08:19:38","slug":"expected-points-may-26-an-unorthodox-title-for-a-french-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/26\/expected-points-may-26-an-unorthodox-title-for-a-french-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"Expected Points, May 26: An Unorthodox Title for a French Tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Expected Points<\/strong>, my new short, daily podcast, highlights three numbers to illustrate stats, trends, and interesting trivia around the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Up today: Bianca Andreescu continues her long-running clay-court winning streak, Alex Molcan gets an easy road to the Belgrade quarter-finals, and Corentin Moutet draws and quarters his way to an exhibition title.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scroll down for a transcript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"castos-iframe-player\" src=\"https:\/\/601b036c283f30-50244448.castos.com\/player\/458186\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/expected-points\/id1552064903\">iTunes<\/a>, Spotify, Stitcher, and elsewhere in the podcast universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Music: <a href=\"http:\/\/dig.ccmixter.org\/files\/admiralbob77\/63197\">Love is the Chase<\/a> by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2021. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: Apoxode<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Expected Points podcast is still a work in progress, so please let me know what you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"450\" style=\"width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;background:transparent;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/expected-points\/id1552064903\"> <\/p><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rough transcript of today\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n\n\n<p>The first number is 1097, the number of days since <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=BiancaAndreescu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bianca Andreescu<\/a> lost a match on a clay court. Her streak isn\u2019t quite as impressive as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=AshleighBarty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ashleigh Barty<\/a>\u2019s multi-year run, since the Canadian has barely played on the surface since losing to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=RichelHogenkamp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richel Hogenkamp<\/a> in French Open qualifying three years ago. In 2019, she won a first-rounder at Roland Garros against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=MarieBouzkova\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marie Bouzkova<\/a> before withdrawing, and she\u2019s cut it short again this week in Strasbourg. Making her European season debut after a battle with Covid, the world #7 won two easy matches against qualifiers, losing only eight games and spending barely two hours on court between them. But due to abdominal discomfort, Andreescu won\u2019t play the quarter-final, in hopes her body will recover in time for the French. It\u2019s been a tough road for the 2019 US Open champion, who has played only 20 matches since her grand slam breakthrough. Her fans are in the unusual position of hoping that her clay-court winning streak will finally end, because that, at least, would mean that she\u2019s able to take the court.<\/p>\n<p>Our second number is 285, the best ATP ranking of the four players faced by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=AlexMolcan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alex Molcan<\/a> so far this week in Belgrade. The 23-year-old Slovakian is ranked a mere 255th himself, and got through qualifying with the help of a favorable draw, facing 337th-ranked Bosnian alternate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=NermanFatic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nerman Fatic<\/a> and 360th-ranked <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=CarlosGomezHerrera\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=CarlosGomez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carlos Gomez<\/a> Herrera, who needed a wild card just to get into the qualifying draw. The main draw brought more of the same. Molcan has faced two Serbian wild cards, 672nd-ranked teen Hamad Medjedovic and #285, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=PedjaKrstin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pedja Krstin<\/a>. Molcan has little tour-level experience, but the level of competition is familiar enough: He\u2019s beaten 9 top-200 players this season, mostly at Challengers. And he\u2019s clearly ready for something more challenging than Belgrade has offered him so far: He crushed Krstin 6-0 6-0 yesterday. In tomorrow\u2019s quarter-finals, he\u2019ll finally feel like he\u2019s reached the big leagues, drawing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=FernandoVerdasco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fernando Verdasco<\/a>, who scored a bagel of his own yesterday against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=AdrianMannarino\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adrian Mannarino<\/a>. A win against Verdasco would put Molcan on the cusp of the top 200 and decrease the chances that he\u2019ll get a draw like this again anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s third and final number is 7, the number of \u201cquarters\u201d played by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=CorentinMoutet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Corentin Moutet<\/a> yesterday en route to a title at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Nice. The exhibition format splits matches into segments of eight minutes each, enough time for Moutet and company to play about 25 points. The 22-year-old Frenchman\u2014dubbed \u201cThe Tornado\u201d for the purposes of Patrick Mouratoglou\u2019s tennis carnival\u2014went undefeated in five matches, beating Taylor Fritz twice, along with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=DaniilMedvedev\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniil Medvedev<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/cgi-bin\/player.cgi?p=FabioFognini\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fabio Fognini<\/a>, and Cristian Garin. The UTS format emphasizes a fast pace, with a 15-second shot clock, and a short format aimed a engaging a younger audience. The end result often just emphasizes the quiet brilliance of the traditional rules. As the clock on each quarter runs out, the losing player has no reason to continue making an effort\u2014there\u2019s no coming back from the equivalent of love-40 if there\u2019s only time for two more points. Unlike World Team Tennis, which has seen many of its innovations reach the mainstream, UTS looks like an irrelevant sideshow, albeit a briefly entertaining one.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/159.203.141.169\/tennisabstract\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/159.203.141.169\/tennisabstract\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/epts_logo.jpg 1662w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expected Points, my new short, daily podcast, highlights three numbers to illustrate stats, trends, and interesting trivia around the sport. Up today: Bianca Andreescu continues her long-running clay-court winning streak, Alex Molcan gets an easy road to the Belgrade quarter-finals, and Corentin Moutet draws and quarters his way to an exhibition title. Scroll down for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/26\/expected-points-may-26-an-unorthodox-title-for-a-french-tornado\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Expected Points, May 26: An Unorthodox Title for a French Tornado<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expected-points-podcast"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}