Alcaraz TOUGH Draw?! Sinner & Medvedev SAME HALF! | Miami Open 2026 Draw Reaction

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So Indian world is over and Yannick Sinner, he was the champion there. Can he land at the

sunshine double? The draw is out and we're all waiting to find out. Which side is Daniel

Medvedev going to be on? That's right there. And part one is complete and we're on to part two

in Miami. And Daniel Medvedev is the one to watch because there's going to be no no that

drop of it here in Miami. This is very rev as much as you got to the semi-final. I feel like he

was a tad disappointed in that semi-final against Sinner. But Daniel Medvedev was the real winner

who was the eventual loser in the final because I think he really did turn up and he's shown that

he is back to the level of Daniel Medvedev we saw a few years ago. The one who was going toe-to-to

on a hard court with no that jock which he was battling with your Raffa on the dows and he was

unplayable at times on a hard court back then. Now he's going with two young guys in Carlos

Adacres and Sinner. He's beaten Carlos Adacres, the guy who loves Indian Wells and who does so well

here over the years. And then lost in some really tight sets in the final against Yannick Sinner.

I could have gone either way and I think you're right to say that Daniel Medvedev you're going to

want to avoid him because he is now inside the top 10 which is great to see him back

in there. We've both predicted him as a top 10 but he is the real player where you're going to

want to avoid him. He could play one of them relatively early because he's not one of the top

seeds. Yeah you are correct. He is there. He is at number 10. He could have gone a little bit higher

how do you want that final but a few points here, a few points there but Sinner showed how clutch

he is in the big moments yet again. It was like he needed that tournament to just close the gap

again on the world number one Carlos Adacres and he now comes into this tournament. A tournament

he has won before and been to the final twice before. He won it in 2024 against Gregor Dimitrov.

Last year's champion was Jakob Mensik. He beat Novak Djokovic in the final but you can see this

one Daniel Medvedev. He beat Janik Sinner as well in 2023. So Janik Sinner three time finalist.

Daniel Medvedev has been a winner before. He's in great form. Alkalaz has been a winner before.

He not such bad form. He's only lost that one match this year and Janik Sinner back to form.

These are the three. They all form a champions. Yeah I mean don't just discredit Jakob Mensik.

The Raining Champions in the draw could do something special. Of course he beat Novak Djokovic

here last year but I would expect either one of them free like you've said. They are the top

free right now and I'm really fascinated to see how it goes. I didn't get to say have my verdict

on the final at all and I didn't even speak after the semi final but I know I spoke to you a lot

off air but since we're doing a podcast I just want to say I thought Janik Sinner tactically was

amazing against Daniel Medvedev. I really liked the way he mixed it up and in that first set he

was changing his return position quite a bit. I don't know if you watched it in full

but he was standing so far back. I've never seen Janik Sinner so far back returning serve

and then at other times he mixed it up and come a little bit closer in and he had Daniel Medvedev

second guess in all the time. Despite that nothing really separated them but I feel like Janik Sinner

tactically was a little bit better than what Carlos Alcalaz was. There were some people criticising

Alcalaz saying that he didn't perform and he had a bad level drop. He could say that maybe in

spells but I thought on the whole it was a really good performance from him and Medvedev just

deserved it. He was incredible in both matches but in the semi final he was really good

and Alcalaz just didn't have the answers for what Daniel Medvedev was doing.

No he was just so aggressive and that's the side of Daniel that we haven't seen for so long

pushing Alcalaz around. Alcalaz wasn't able to get into the court to start playing his aggressive

tennis because he was on the run all the time and he was doing that to Sinner as well credit to him.

He played very aggressive against Sinner too. I think he realised that he needed to take it to

these guys. He's been too passive in the past. Same with Zverev too and he went for broke a little

bit. We've made Zverev. He made more mistakes than unforced errors but Daniel Medvedev it was a very

good controlled aggression in which he was winning a lot of the exchanges and any value I was going

a bit longer. Usually you'd expect the on paper, the better player to win it. Medvedev was winning

them. Yeah it was incredible and only the best hardcore player you'd think would be able to beat

a Daniel Medvedev in that type of form and no surprises that Yannick Sinner now has won all

nine major hardcore titles at just 24 years old and you see their Federer took him into a 30,

jock of its 31, Agassi 32, so young to be doing such a major feat and that just shows his domination

really and how good he is on a hardcore. Yeah and in terms of points now 11,410 he's closed that

gap with Carlos adidas. He's not defending any points here in Miami again so yeah every time Yannick Sinner

goes deep in the tournament right now he is closing the gap with Carlos adidas for world number one

status. Yep and don't forget Roland Garros on the horizon too and a lot of points to be capitalized

on there so this is the draw reaction from Miami though we're going to go through each of the quarters

as we always do and we'll be looking at Carlos Alcalaz the number one seed still where we're

looking at his quarter first and we'll be finding out which side of the draw Daniel Medvedev is on

Izzy on the Sinner side Izzy on the Alcalaz side well let's start off by looking at the seeds in

Alcalaz's quarter. So should we go through it? Yeah ridiculous really disappointed with this you've

got Maruzan from Secar as an opening match and then the winner plays Alcalaz I mean it's not great

for Alcalaz even but this is absolutely like a horrible draw it's really bad for me because I

need fun second to get some points this is a big masters event anywhere else in the draw he's going

to do something surely Casper Rude Alcalaz will be rubbing his hands together he's not worried

about him at all in the slightest Kwame is very interesting of course that's a young guy who

we've been raving about in the challenger tour who is looking really good very powerful player I

think you went a bit too big saying he could be a top-temper maybe I know as I know we have

to be a disagreement on that I know I'm here bigging him up but he is a really I've gone the other

way so he's a bright talent definitely a bright talent but he's no Alcalaz by any means

interesting to see how he deals in it in a big draw like this quarter no comment on him he's

hit a miss Dardelli I think super dangerous Le Hedge card draper is coming back yeah and all you

know I mean this is a really tough section I would say especially we've got draper there Dardelli

Fritz another one who can can be very very dangerous who would you fancy out of a Fritz and Draper

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tough especially in Miami as well because we're

I guess I guess yeah I think it will be pretty hot but draper looked he looked pretty good

in in Indian Wells and Fritz hasn't looked that good this year so far apart from in Dallas I think

it was that was the only place that I've seen him really look okay but then I think I think

said quarter he was the one who was the maybe the better one there draper is a nightmare for

everybody in this draw because he's 25th seed yeah and it's a killer yeah this is a top 10 player

who's a twenty twenty five seed who come back from injury does kill brackets and unfortunately

for Alkalaz he's found himself with my beloved Marazan who is beating him before Fonseca a draper

he went close with Sinner Fonseca just recently at the last tournament so he had the same result

that Daniel Medvedev had against Yannick's uh Sinner bear it by that in mind do you tell him

Fonseca could be Alkalaz I'm not saying it's outside the realm of possibility but you'll

beloved Kwame giving up on him I don't know the qualifiers he might lose to the qualifier the

the he's a he's a very uh what do they call it like a he's like a rough a diamond in the rough type

thing so I think yeah there's a there's a there's a really good player in there but there's a lot

I've seen after watching him after I big dim up I realized the error of my way is that I watched

a few of his back hands go into the bottom of the net and I thought yeah well maybe I grounded you

on that because it seems like you're seeing a little bit more sense maybe when we go into the

women's and we speak about Rajad Karni you also see some sense because I've got a lot of play there

this is not the time on the place for that so let's continue with the draw who be her catch

an unseeded player in other years I would say that is horrible but I feel like he's really inconsistent

right now maybe he's never really recovered from that injury on the grass I kind of had a little

brief yeah a little a blip of some form of recovery and then just fell off a cliff again

but no okay really tough let's go into the next one so in Alkalaz is half will be

TV

Lorenzo Busetti is the fourth seed so this is the Masetti Quarter so there you go and

he has in his quarter Bublek, Vass雀

Yeshveri, and Jimmy Paul, Arthur Se knees, Kaubuly

and Alex Diminore and some very interesting unseeded players in this section we got

got sister pass, Dimitrov, Manorino. Who else have we got? Baratini, Brooksby. This is, I mean,

there's some really great unceded players in this side. There is, but I do feel that we're going

to just see one of the bigger ones advance because none of them feel me with much confidence. I think

the standout consistent player is either Bublik, which is crazy to say, but he has been consistent

and Dimitrov. Masetti, he's had his problems, isn't he? His injury is, yeah. And I probably

don't know what's going on with him. So, what happened in India and Wales? He lost two Martin

Fuchsavitch, 7561. Yeah, he's not, he's not feeding himself at all. I mean, he was very good

at the Australian Open, took the first two sets, get the jok of it, and then went down in the

third and retired. Yeah. So, I think it's just a tour of time for him. It's difficult to say what,

what Masetti we're going to see. I was expecting really big things from him this year, but unfortunately,

injury-wise, it's, it's, it's, it's been suffering. So, I can't say anything about him really,

until we know what physical state he's in. Tell me more, I feel, can be dangerous, but I'm not,

I'm more edging towards either a Vassara fees than him right now. Vassara, I think, is with his

cousin, isn't it, Rindy Kinesh, and they've just got to, they win the final. They were in the

final, that's for sure. I didn't even see them. I still, they got to the final. Yeah, because they

knocked out, now they lost the final. Well, okay. Yeah, they knocked out Jok of it, Cicapass, and

first round, I believe. I've watched that match, but they're not. They lost 76, 63, to Gwynard and

Dereozi. Yeah, pretty cool. They did, they got all the way to the final. Vassara, I still think,

is fantastic, and fees, Diminor, if we get that, I don't have any hope for Cicapass, Dimitroff,

I'm not so keen on. I'd rather Toboli over a pole. I'm one, Toboli, I want a big taller

one from him here in Miami. I've got even pretty strong, big one, maybe looking out for fees,

to knock out Diminor. Yeah, so it's, we could have an all Italian, what's that like, fourth round,

we don't know enough about Mercedes, really, right now. We don't, but I think if he, we know the

ability's in there, if he is back and he is good, he definitely, I mean, he can win this quarter,

definitely. But looking at this, I'm trying to look at Diminor and see how he's done at this

event before. Fourth round is the best we've seen from Diminor, but he is getting better all the

time. It's up for grabs. Very difficult to call though, but you'll have to say based upon

consistency, I'd say Diminor has to be the favourite for that quarter. Yeah, or Bubliq,

maybe, maybe, difficult to say. But yeah, I'd probably shy on the side of Diminor. The unseeded

players are big names of the past. You're straffed, you're sister Passara, Diminor,

Trossi Manorino's players we've seen on the tour for many years. I'm not really that worried

about them if I'm if I'm a Diminor or a Kuboli. I think or a fees. I think you'd be more worried about

your, the other players we just mentioned on the other side. So you're Fonseca's, you're

Maddozans, like the younger players who, I think they're more dangerous than this old guard now.

Yeah, I think you're right, because yeah, they've had more success in recent time, especially like

people, even like Kuboli, we've seen him win in an event just recently. So all of this is great,

all of this is good, all of this is the top half. And there's one name that we haven't seen.

So that means we know where Daniel Medvedev is. He's on the other side of the draw and he's not on

the side of Carlos Alcalaz. He's on the side of Yannick Sinner. And he is, and I'm going to go

to it now, he's in the Zvereb quarter. So he's not in, he's not in the quarter of Yannick Sinner,

he's in the quarter of Sasha's Verev. And this is who else is in the quarter. So he's got Nakashima,

Sarundala, Lana TN, now we're talking, Oga Amber, David Hitchfakina and Ben Shelton, they are the

seeds in the Zverev Medvedev quarter. Yeah, I'm just really shocked that before we went live,

he was telling me that Sinner is the favourite for this event with the bookmakers,

on the Carlos Alcalaz. That is just purely off, that one result, what happened in the

emuls recently, the one last Alcalaz has had this in 2026, he's not the favourite for the next

event. And if you then put on top of that, the fact that Sinner has Medvedev, so most likely Sinner

may have to be Medvedev and an Alcalaz, whereas an Alcalaz would only have to be Eva or Sinner

or a Medvedev in the final, I find it really shocking that Sinner is still the favourite. I would put

it as at the very least even, but maybe Alcalaz is still the marginal favourite. That just goes to show

how much people are really fancy in Yannick Sinner to get the sunshine double and wrap up this Miami.

He's won it once before, yeah, just the ones that have been to the final three times.

Yeah, so maybe that's something to do with the fact that he's got some really good results

here in the past. Someone who else has really good results is Sarundala. I forget what he did last

year, but was it the other year yet? Like the many years he's done extremely well, semi-final and

one of the years, to be honest, he does like it in Miami, it does suit his game very, very well.

He could be very much a banana skin, especially for someone like a Zverev, if he was to me,

he has a very good record against Sasha Zverev, but Medvedev is a different animal and he'd probably

annoyed that he's not on the Zverev half of this quarter and he's on the Medvedev side, because I reckon

if you swap them round and put TN instead of Sarundalo, then it's a nightmare for either of those

players, because Medvedev, the last player he wants to play, has learned the TN. Yeah, so Sarundalo

quickly, he's got a 75% win record at Miami, he's his best tournament, the best big tournament out of

all of them, including slams, and that is a semi-final in 2022, then a quarter-final, then a third round,

then a quarter-final. So he's very consistent at this event. Right, Francisco Zverev is a player

to watch right here, and he could be on a collision course with Daniel Medvedev, early doors.

Yeah, that's a really tough matchup, but I think the way that Daniel's playing, I don't think he fears

anybody right now, he looks like he's got an air of just like, I think Sarundalo, he's been in 18,

18th seat, he's super unlucky, that he's drawn Medvedev, whereas rather than the other way around,

I think Sarundalo's the real loser in this draw. Yeah, it's unfortunate. Learn a TN, he's got

a bit of itch for Keener in this little section as well. He's a winner. That could be a potentially

good one. Didn't they just play recently? I'm just trying to think, did they play at Indian

Worlds for some reason? I think TN beat him in a third set tie break. That could be another close

match that we get to see again. Keener gets a man of itch has come back to a bit of form as well,

but all in all, I don't see Zverev winning this quarter. That's one of my big take. I think he wins

his side potentially. Go up. Is it TN on that side though? Yeah, it's TN's Zverev. He's

doing Zverev can beat TN though, still for sure. This won't be too harsh on Zverev, he's still one

of the best players in the world, but if you put Zverev in a Medvedev together right now,

nine times out of 10, I'm going down a Medvedev. Yeah, especially playing like this means Zverev

took out a team. Could a Shelton disrupt the party? I mean, not even spoke about him really.

Miami, I feel like he'll be quite hyped with the American crowd. Yeah, it seems like this is his

type of vibe as well. I feel like we've got the US Open, which towards the end of the year,

but surely at this time of the year, I can't think of a better event for Ben Shelton than Miami.

How I'm just trying to think how he got on the last year. I'm just going to have a quick look at that.

Now, one, sir, it's just so I can find out if he, no, he's not adding any good results here yet.

So his third round was his best a couple of years ago, second round, third round, second round.

Doesn't mean it can't come good eventually, but he does prefer faster courts and yeah,

that's probably where he comes a little bit unstuck here. So, interesting. Definitely a tough or,

I'd say a tough quarter in spells, but I've still the standout name in this one is Medvedev for me.

There's some difficult names, but after watching what he did in Indian Wales, I think he can beat

all of these players in this side. Yeah, I think Surundelo's a real loser. TN, not so much. And if

we do get TN's there, it will be quite a good match. And interesting to see what level TN's out.

For sure. For TN, another winner really here because you could get TN to a Fonseca. TN always,

I mean, he's a higher ranked player, he's a seed for a start. But TN, by being a seed,

it's helped him out a lot. Look what's happened to Fonseca yet again. Another horrible draw.

He can't avoid Fonseca. He was in a radical as early doors.

That's true. Keep playing one of the big two players in the world. Just ruin it for me. But

it does test his skills against the best. And surely that can only make him better.

Some turn, Ben, but I don't need long-term success. I need him to be getting points on the board

this year in 2026. Well, if he beats alcohol, I'll be singing his praises.

He's got to go past Malazam first, and that's not an easy match either. Let's get to the

Sinner quarter. He is on the side of Daniel Medvedev in the same half. And in Sinner's section,

he has last year's champion, Yakov Mensik in his quarter. We've also got TFO. We've got Mutet.

We've got Nori. We've got Rindikanesh. We've got Felix Ojealisim and Andre Rublev.

Yeah, I would not be worried about this quarter at all if you're Janik Sinner.

Now, pretty good. I will be shocked if we don't see him advance to the semifinal.

I don't know why his favourite. But I'm going to put a big butt in there. Yakov Mensik can beat him.

We've seen it recently. And after that, he lost a fees, Mensik, straight after.

And he's been a bit up and down with his levels. But when Mensik is playing his top level,

he can go and beat Novak Djokovic in a final on these courts. And we've seen it beat Sinner

a few months ago, not even. So I think it's still someone you can never just overlook.

And I would like to get a Mensik Sinner match up. So Sinner can try and get some revenge. But it won't

be easy. Do not just look at that and think by any means he's going to just come here and beat him

easily. You never know where Yakov Mensik. That is a serious player. He is. He's definitely,

he's still so young as well. That's the one thing everyone forgets. He's been on the tour for

quite some time. But he's defended a lot of points too. Like if he goes out early, it won't be great

for his ranking. He'll be sliding. You can normally tell how good the quarter is based upon the

unseeded players. And this one not as strong, I would say. All of these, there's no real standout

names. If I'm honest, Tom Hatch is probably one of the best ones there. Yeah, or Sebastian

Bias. He's been a changed player on hard courts this year. Maybe bring up some of his stats.

You can't just skim past it. No, he's doing quite good on the hard courts. He's following the

Salundolo route. Somewhere in the in the water there in Hagen Tina. Yeah, I mean, look,

Bittler Hatch just six four six one. Yeah, that's outrageous. To Billow, beat him seven six six one.

Where were these breadsticks? Well, yeah, but still from the hard courts, it's just this one above.

But still great. He's been having great results this year. Yeah, he beat Fritz in the start as well.

Let's just go down and see some more matches. Yeah, look on hard court. Look, he won all of these.

Navar, Brooks B, Shelton. It's just not these three on. I made that up. Yeah, it went to a close tie

break with him. Let me have a look. He beat by Frank. Yeah, he beat Fritz. But it's very much.

United car. All of these are good, like Munar, not an easy match at all. Straight set win.

Fantastic, really. On hard courts, he's been better than the Clare argue.

That's yeah, so far. I mean, let's not get too carried away. I just think he is he's got potential

and Medvedev though, look what he did to him in Indian world. Six four six love. Yeah,

there's levels to the game. Right. Let's take a look at some of the routes through to the final.

We'll be looking at the number one and the number two seed. So Alcalaz has a buy.

Could be Fonseca or Marazan round two, quarter or in Petri Petticard round three, Dardelli or Hachana

of round four. Fritz Rude, Draper Le Hitchcock in the quarters, Musetti, Diminor, Bubli, Kuboli,

Semis and Sinner or Medvedev in the final, I would say. It's a really hard draw. I mean,

it's a really, really tough draw for Carlos Alcalaz with the real like saving grace in the whole

thing is the fact that Daniel Medvedev is on the other side of the draw. Yeah. And really,

if we're being honest as much as it's a hard draw, you expect Carlos Alcalaz, Sinner and Medvedev

to beat everyone else apart from himself. So with that in mind, maybe it's not so tough,

because he only has to play a final where he plays one of them, whereas Sinner and Medvedev

will have to play each other and then a final with Alcalaz. In theory, of course, anything can happen.

But forgetting that in terms of man for man, including the big free players, this is a really top

section. And I think this is the best of the rest. More so than all the other sections. This is my

opinion. Obviously, people can disagree, but I think draper is so good. Carlos has a player in

their fun sector. We've already seen it. I mean, every single round, you can make a case for all

of these players. It's super tough. Yeah. I'd say it's like an opposite draw to Yannick Sinner,

because I think that the difficult, there's so many difficult hurdles early on for Alcalaz.

So if you go to Sinner's one, it's sort of the reverse. And you've got Juma, Mute, or Mahatch,

Rubleville, Nauri, and the fourth, then Mensick potentially caught a final. That's when it gets tough.

And then if it is a Mensick, it's really tough, but there's no guarantees Mensick gets there.

If Mensick gets there playing well, Sinner's tournament starts at the quarter final stage. That

will be really interesting and tough and not an easy match at all. But like you say, the first four

rounds, I think he would do it at Canter. Yeah. And then if the final three matches are Mensick,

Medvedev, Alcalaz, then super tough. So you'll have earned it. If he manages to get there all

the way to the final, win the Sunshine Double, he will have earned it. But like we've said many times

on all of these draw previews and reactions, we might even get these matchups. We talk about him.

We talk a good game, but then we end up with TFI, Siddha, and then he just wallops him,

like that. Yeah. Who knows? Oh, there we go. That is our draw reaction anyway for

Miami. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section. Who do you think has the better draw?

Do you think Yannick Sinner can get the Sunshine Double? Do you think Alcalaz is going to come

back with something, Medvedev maybe, or someone completely else, someone else completely. Let us

know in the comment section. We'll give some predictions at some point and of course do some

commentary on the women's. Just a quick word on Magic Carnage. He's pulled out through illness.

What's your reaction to that, your upset? I am, because she was actually defending quite a

point. This is probably a best tournament from last year. So yeah, that's what you got any details

on the illness, what it is? Cold, is it? I think she's been carrying around a big bag of money,

and it is hurting her back. She's now got to run down due to carrying it around.

But big shout out to me at the end of this one. I said, Sinner and Saba Lenka to win,

and it came true. So obviously don't call me out. It's a really big claim. I don't know how you

really thought that Yannick Sinner or Saba Lenka can win tournaments. You went, we're back in

her Alcaraz. I mean, we were both fairly close, but I got them both correct at the start of the

tournament. Well done Ben, I'm really proud of you. Thank you very much. So stay tuned to see what Ben

predicts for Miami, because I can guarantee it won't happen. Definitely not twice in a row.

If you haven't already, please hit the like button, subscribe and we'll see you for Miami,

and there's no right to car now. I'm afraid for Ben and all of the fans.

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