When qualifier Tim Smyczek took a two sets to one lead over Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, his career was clearly on the upswing. Although Rafa was certainly not the beast he has been in the past, to get two sets off of one of the all-time greats represented a culmination into everything the Tim had worked for.
And for a little while longer, it seemed as if the Nadal battle was just a stepping stone for Smyczek as he won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Dallas, and made the Final of another Challenger event in Irving. However, for some reason, following the win in Irving Smyczek's career stalled, and big time. It's time to take a look into Tim Smyzcek's troubles.
Smyczek's issues didn't totally show the week after Irving, at the Masters 1000 event in Miami. But perhaps tennis fans should have knew, after winning a tight battle against Menendez-Maceiras before bowing out to a rusty (at the time) Jo-Wilfred Tsonga that perhaps Tim's momentum was running out. Perhaps the spring hard court season was finally starting to wear on Smyczek, and a trip to the clay at Houston would give him a boost.
I witnessed first hand Tim's 6-3, 6-3 loss to Teymuraz Gabashvili in Houston. Although the crowd was small, it was definitely a pro-Smyzcek bunch, with fans willing Tim on to victory. It looked, however, as if Tim wasn't embracing the crowd, almost shutting the crowd out in a way. He was irritable throughout the entire match and had a very negative attitude. Smyczek's level of play matched his poor attitude, as Gabashvili completely controlled the rallies and left Smyczek on the defense for nearly the entire match. Tim's serves did not penetrate through the court and acted as the points were almost always started on Smyczek's serve in a neutral-rally position. It seemed as if Teymuraz went out there with an aggressive mindset, while Tim was waiting for his opponent to make errors, which lead to a convincing victory for Gabashvili.
Tim went on to go a very pedestrian 2-2 in the green clay challenger events in Sarasota and Savannah, before only winning three games in Nice and losing in straight sets to Lucas Pouille and then going on to lose in straight sets to Kevin Anderson at the French Open. I watched a good portion of his embarrassing match against James McGee at the Savannah Challenger, a 6-0, 6-3 loss. Like against Gabashvili, Smyczek was always on the defensive and even a player like McGee could cause Smyczek major issues.
The best way to show this would be for readers to watch the match themselves (scroll down a little ways), although I think the first game essentially summarizes the entire match. In the first game, one can see the ineffectiveness of the Smyczek serve, and really, the problems that Tim has with maintaining control of the points. Tim does a slightly better job in this match than in Houston in regards to wrestling control of the points with the serve, but upon gaining the upper hand in the rallies, Smyczek never utilized his position and eventually gave control back to McGee, who utilized this control to win the point. McGee played with risk in his game, like Gabashvili did in Houston, while Smyczek played entirely too safe.
But, maybe the clay gave Tim the non-risk mindset that was ever-so present during the clay court season. The grass could have forced him to play with a much more aggressive mindset. But, alas, that did not occur. For Tim Smyczek went 1-4 during the grass court season, with his only victory being a three-setter over James Ward at a 250 event in Nottingham. However, in his other four matches on grass, he won a measly one set, including a straight set loss to Fabio Fognini at Wimbledon. Although Fabio is certainly the better player in this instance, his defensive tendencies and mediocre performances on grass gave Tim the perfect opportunity to try to step up and take the match. But, alas, Smyczek couldn't capitalize on this potential confidence-building opportunity.
And so, with a straight set loss to open the summer hard court season in Atlanta to Ricardas Berankis, Smyzcek currently finds himself as a heavy underdog in his match today against Alexandr Dolgopolov, where a loss could even further hurt his confidence and make a resurgence even tougher. The key for Smyczek, in my opinion, is two-fold. I think that Tim not only has to play more aggressive to gain better control of the points, but also that when he gets control of the points, he has to continue to play with enough aggression to keep control of the points.
Tim Smyczek can be very successful on that ATP World Tour. He has shown in the past that he has what it takes to be a great player. However, I believe his mindset within the points are what is currently holding him back, and I think that if he makes slight adjustments, he will rise up the ATP rankings very quickly.
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