🎾Osaka vs Muchova Prediction | US Open 2024 Tennis Preview

the popcorn matches just keep coming at the US Open we have Naomi isaka versus karolina Muka and we're going to be doing a preview and prediction for this second round US Open 2024 matchup I can't wait to get into this one it's a very very interesting one two very exciting players to well dissect and also look at in terms of both players coming from a comeback either injury or in Saka case of course having a child and then coming back so I I think it's fair to say both players are not going to be at their best in terms of Peak Performance but we've seen some really good flashes from both players in the last six months six to nine months even a year and it could be a very competitive and enthralling encounter before we do get into it though remember that like button do subscribe if you're new and do leave a rating review if you're listening on a podcast platform so as you can see our new preview format or prediction format as well we have teamed up with match flow graphics and you can see on screen some interesting bits of info bits of well nuggets of information really which could be of interest to you guys I'll go through a few of them we'll then talk also about the head-to-head then I'll break down as well their form so their form coming into this in terms of tournaments in the last couple of months and then actually we've got one for the well the past year in fact which is even better and then I will talk about tactically and strategically how I think it will play out which I think is what most of you guys will be wanting to listen to and then we will give you guys the prediction the predicted winner and I'll even give you sets because why not and you can see on screen that match flow have given aaka the edge they've given 60% chance of winning 40% to karolina mova and then in terms of expectation it's mental mentality versus inj injury sorry even and yeah I mean I guess it's in keeping with the story line we're saying that you know how does Asaka hold up mentally to coming back to playing on you know the biggest stage and it is the biggest stage because it's the biggest stadium rash in the world uh you know how dides she fa she looked pretty good against oeno the form was I thought in terms of level pretty high and actually the first set was almost Flawless almost no I think it was actually no unforce erors in that first set which was really impressive K mova I mean she has you know been pretty good herself I mean she had a pretty tough first round against Katy volet who we interviewed a couple of times on the channel uh interviewed her at wimon in person a couple of times and very driven Young American upand cominging Star but mov very very good I thought as well so both players despite maybe not being at their Peak Performance for the last six months year their first round matchups in terms of what we saw was actually very impressive and it could hopefully mean that we see a pretty entertaining match in terms of rankings so namia Saka is number 19 in the world at the moment and 52 in the world is muk's ranking in terms of peak ranking Asaka was number one in the world of course five years ago and mova was number eight in the world and that was a year ago interestingly if you look so asa's still very young right she's 26 years of age and she peaked at number one 5 years ago so that's at 21 and for mova she is 28 so really should be in her prime and Asaka now again approaching her prime although it could be a little bit different the time scale given also that she had a child but that's not always the case when we look at Kim kisis who came back incredibly impressive of course in terms of coaches wiim fet is a Saka coach and Emil misk is movz I think we can move on to the form I think we can move on to the form and how they've looked in previous tournaments so let's get stuck into that so in terms of the last few months anyway Asaka played eight tournaments nine wins eight losses so a win percentage of 53 for mova she's got four tournaments in the bag only the five wins but three losses as well so 63% win rate so in terms of win rates she's looking pretty good Asaka has only made one quarterfinal since April which was at the Le open uh which a grassau tournament lost andrescu it was a decent run but no massive wins there I think what we can say is that at Rome she had a couple of good wins over kostuk and kasako those are big wins and then obviously lost to Jen who ended up winning an Olympic gold on Clay so no shame in that in the round of 16 so that was a good run and then at Roland garos of course beat bronzetti in the first round and then the Shion loss she had match point you know what could have been beating you know the queen of Clay on her favorite surface and favorite Stadium would have been an impressive feat but didn't manage to do so then kicked on made that course F in Le open which is good but after that it's been slim pickings first round lost in Berlin winen lost to Navaro in the second round it's a tough second round and Navaro of course went on to make a Deep Run wi wooden but yeah maybe grass is potentially not her favorite surface and then in the Olympics she she lost to Kerber in the first round as well look I mean in Canada she didn't play Cincinnati because she didn't get a wild card which is pretty bizarre if I'm being honest but it is what it is uh she ended up then going through qualifying in Cincinnati and lost unfortunately but in Canada she did get a wild card to the main draw she won her first run against jabber really impressive win lost to merens so yeah I mean going into this she's in a precarious position for mova I mean she played the roste international beat aanan and Lynette and then didn't play the next match pulled out though B DOI lost in the first round I mean that's understandable in honesty and then in palmo she had a really good run made the final lost a Jen and then Olympics lost in the first round to Fernandez which is again not no real shame in that really if we then look at the whole well if we if we look at a 12E view it then gets a little bit interesting um for me anyway because you can see here these are main tournaments and these are Masters 1000 tournaments and also grand slams so the these are big big tournaments now last year of course mova made a really good run at Cincinnati and the US Open she made the final of Cincinnati lost to Coco golf beating players like sabinka sorry excuse me sabinka buz sakur martic had May really good wins then made the semi-finals of the US Open the draw did open up I mean should be Hunter fre townzen Wang CA not not really a particularly tough route but did really well to play the semi-finals anyway and then didn't play a tournament all the way up until a major tournament anyway a Master 1000 a WTA final or a grand slam up until Wen which is yeah pretty it's disappointing and it's just injury there's not really much you can do about it um but if you look then at her tournament so five tournaments 11 wins five losses and a 69% win rate and as you can see Cincinnati as well lost to Pula beat in the first round so she did she did play a couple of matches in Cincinnati then for Osaka it's been interesting uh because you know she made her comeback which is great and she's gone forth rottle and played all surfes even played the Olympics I mean she's been very active which is a real positive seven tournaments 11 wins seven losses 61% win rates so slightly lower but she's played more tournaments Indian Wells you know you can see so she hasn't made it past a round of 16 of any major tournament which is Rome ironically on Clay but some decent wins over people like selino on hardcore Samson of Hardcore which is good costu kakino and CLA as you mentioned previously so form wise you know they're not playing as I said their best tennis but there is some promise I would say in terms of the head-to-head head head is w0 and Asaka won the matchup that was on hard and that was in 20120 in three sets though a tight match and then actually the next year Saka lost to mova in three sets in 2021 in Madrid in the round of 32 and then Asaka ended up getting a walkover against mov in Miami so that doesn't count towards the head-to-head look I mean both these players are extremely exciting we can now delve into the Tactical side of [Music] things it's going to interesting Asaka has got arguably the best serve on the women's tour think sabalenka or reaka and might look at me and say I don't think so and they could be right but she's definitely up there she's in terms of her first serve that is first serve is just it's phenomenal when she's making high percentage it's it's really tough to break her she hits her spots really nicely as well and she's just she's able to vary it and she can hit a lot of pace as well velocity behind it mova also does serve pretty well but she's more of a spot server uh she kind of hits her spots quite nicely she doesn't have massive power but she's got some good variation on serve and it's a little bit different in terms of the the type of serve anyway on return Asaka has been working on a return she's been saying it she has been trying to take the ball early she's been trying to rush opponents as she should and she showed some really good promise you know if we take the example of thech match at Ron and garos there are some really good return points there yes it's on Clay so it's a slower surface slightly easier to return of course than a medium or medium slow hardc Court which the US Open is but I think that's still positive uh for makova she's got variation she can return well as well she's a pretty all round tennis player mov she's got great variety for Saka though from the back of the court she possesses the power out of the two right she is the PowerHouse she's the one that's going to try and be as aggressive as possible from the Baseline that is anyway and try and push and almost bully makov on Court and use those crazy angles she's able to find at times as well on the forehand and especially on the backhand side I mean you know Asaka and you know it is very reminiscent when you watch Asaka you do see flashes of Serena and it's because she does hit that open stance forehand which is very similar to to Serena and of course that was her Idol growing up and there is definitely similarities between the two her backand technically looks a little bit different it looks a little bit more quote unquote traditional than the unique Serena backand but she's able to find these crazy angles as well which is so tough to play against and she sometimes finds them out of nowhere and it disrupt the rhythm of an opponent it puts him on the back foot it puts him in uncomfortable positions right drags him off Court that's not what they want to be so that that's a real strength of Asaka and one thing that she seems to be building up is the movement side I don't think she was ever an elite mover but she's at least now I think at this stage off for a comeback I feel like she's maybe around the average Mark for her movement which is good mova is is different she she's in the ashbar mode of player so a lot of variety and you know she can hit big off both Wings you know forehand and backhand but as we saw from that behind the back shot against volets she has one very good hands she likes coming forward which is great likes a transition and come to the net she has a really good backand slice as well well utiliz that nicely and she the way that she plays is all about disrupting the opponent's rhythm with variety for Asaka it's about power and angles for makova it is all about variety and that is her real real key I think and not just variety but variety her touch and also athleticism she's a very athletic player if you watch and she can slice and dice it when needed she can vary it up and it makes it very tough to play against if makova is going to win this match she needs to make sure that she is being selective about when she transitions and comes forward she doesn't want to get picked off by Asaka at the net but I do think it's important that she does come forward I think Asaka is always best on the front foot so if makova can try and take that away from her and push her back onto the back fo as much as possible that's where will start to feel uncomfortable and that's where movo will then be able to transition come forward she can use a drop shot she's got a good drop shot you use that you know try and take advantage of the fact that Asaka isn't an elite mover she's good mover she's not an elite mover use that drop shot drag her to the net she's not comfortable there make sure that she's hitting those backand slies as well but varying it as well trying at times go down the line with the backand slice be brave going to that forehand side very it um and not just with the slice but with her ground strokes hit bit more shape on the forehand use try and find some angles and match as Sara's you know angle capabilities and then yeah then be brave coming forward to the net and she needs to be and you know I think we can talk about serving well everyone needs to serve well to win it's very rare that someone serves badly and wins a match against someone who is a solid player right on tour it it's very very rare uh it's very very very rare um unless they have an incredible returning day which can happen and there's a lot of breaks of s which to be fair on the WTA side does happen as well but I think for makova she needs to really reach into her her variety bag and try and give Asaka lots of different things to think about and make it difficult for her to really adjust and find a rhythm for oaka what's going to be really important is limiting the errors I think at times you know she can go a little bit wild that first against oeno was almost Flawless and that's what she needs to be dialed in I think for her the the mental side of things is really important as well can she just stay died in just block out everything else really knuckle down focus and also be brave as well but she tends to be brave to be honest it's more can she set it up and to set up the shots she wants to hit she needs to serve well like we were saying um but also return well because she wants to be on the front foot and makova does defend well but I think for aaka she's going to have to be very clever going behind mover at times as well a wrong footer make her feel uncomfortable in that sense and also be clinical I think in in some of the points pull the trigger when when she feels that she has that little bit momentum in a point go line first be the braver one out of the two uh and then kind of just almost Pummel Mo over at times because that's what she'll want to do and that's what she should do and use those angles at times know she can use those short angles and they'll be really difficult to combat so she's not going to come to the Nar we know that so she has to then use her capabilities from the back of the court it's very rare she comes forward uh you know she could use a drop shot again not something she utilizes a huge deal it's going to be her serve and her power power and angles from the back of the Court that's going to Red dictate you know how this match plays out in terms of prediction I think on a hardcore it's just such a consistent surface Saka I think really the fact that she's won four Slams on it says it all I think she's going to win and I think it'll be three sets I think it'll be a tight one makover of course roll gar finalist I think she's got the capabilities of winning but I was very impressed with the Saka against oeno the serving display uh just the the clean striking from the back of the caught the limited errors it was it was a real master class from Naomi so I think she'll get it done I think it'll be a tough match though and don't count out Mo over because she is a phenomenal talent and it's great to see her back healthy on tour because the women's tour is only better for having her in it guys let me know in the comments section below who you picked and why thank you very much stay safe for all we'll see you in the next video