US Open Qualifying Men - Ward vs. Li

New York humidity represents tricky conditions

We are closing in on the fourth and last major of the year, the 2019 US Open. Qualifying began yesterday and will carry on till Friday before the tournament eventually starts next Monday. While it's hard to measure all the conditions like court/ball speed and bounce after one day, we can at least have a look at the weather forecasts. It will be warm and humid throughout the week with temperatures around 30°C (85-90°F). Humidity in particular is an aspect many players struggle with this time of year in New York.

For tennis players, these factors play a pretty big role. Most of them would like to play in perfect conditions all the time with no spectators moving and no weather capers influencing their game. You could read a quote from Sloane Stephens just yesterday, "complaining" about the NYC humidity.

The men's qualifying match I picked for today is the one between Brit James Ward and Chinese Zhe Li and especially in a matchup like this with two 32-year-olds, motivation, which is accompanied by adapting to different situations, seems a big factor to me.

Ward vs. Li rematch

The two already faced each other in Aptos, California two weeks ago and the Chinese emerged victorious, 6-4 6-2. Temperatures in Aptos have been a lot cooler than New York this week, but humidity came into play as well.

James Ward has had some success in his career, being a consistent member of the top 200 from 2010 to 2015. After that, he had to go through so many difficulties with the death of his coach, who has also been his best friend, and knee surgery. Zhe Li however reached his career high #210 in 2016 and only made it to a Grand Slam main draw once (this year's Australian Open by winning the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff). So these numbers might be the reason the odds didn't really change after their last match.

Zhe Li kind of a late bloomer

While Ward only won 5 matches on outdoor hard courts this year, Li is 26-20 and really showed some improvement on his level over the last few years. He might not be the more talented player of the two, but he never gave up on his career, despite not getting any results in early in his career, which shows his grit.

Since predominantly playing at ITFs or challengers in Asia throughout his career, Zhe Li is used to heat and humidity and should be able to handle the conditions better than Ward. As long as courts are not lightning-fast, which they didn't look like at a first glance yesterday, I see Li grinding down Ward again to get to the second round of qualifying.