25 Things I Love About Andrey Golubev

So he didn't beat Novak Djokovic (though he did take a set off him!) Sure, he went off the boil pretty badly there. But I still think Andrey Golubev is the knees of the bees, and he is going to grow up SO AWESOME.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will have seen this list last night, when I live-tweeted the Djokovic/Golubev match. But I think it's a pretty good list (even if some of it is obviously live-blogged and will have no relevance to someone who didn't see the match!) and so here it is in it's entirety.

25 Things I Love About Andrey Golubev from the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

1. He doesn't mess around with his serve. Quick and dirty. No epic time wasting.
2. He didn't just hit two double faults in a tow.
3. He always tries to make his opponent play an extra shot. Good tennis brain.
4. He has a very stylish serve-forehand one-two punch. Mmm-mmm. Delish.
5. That backhand up the line he just hit. Sexy, sexy shot.
6. SINGLE. HANDED. BACKHAND.
7. The angles he is getting, particularly on the backhand side. UNF.
8. He is delightfully red-headed.
9. That forehand down the line just then was smokin'. UNF UNF.
10. His aggression, even when it doesn't quite work out.
11. The dude can VOLLEY. Seriously.
12. He is annoying the f%^& out of Bert the Unshaven right now.
13. HE JUST BROKE DJOKOVIC. HELLS TO THE YEAH.
14. Clutch first serve. Not all the time, but it's getting there.
15. Right after losing that game, he's straight back on the aggressive horse.
16. FIRST SET BITCHES! HELL YEAH!
17. He's not afraid to hit the ball, even after some demoralising shanks.
18. He freaking GOES FOR IT on the return.
19. He has the ability to dig himself out of a hole.
20. Even if he is losing this set pretty badly, he has some mad HawkEye skillz.
21. That hectic service break he just made. Even if he loses the set, that rocked.
22. He gives credit where credit is due (i.e. he applauds his opponents).
23. He's not afraid to come to the net.
24. He has mad skillz on the return. Always gives his opponent a good ball.
25. He might have lost, but DAMN, can he play.

So there it is - some of the many things I love about Andrey Golubev. What he does need is a little discipline and a little consistency - he's a bit fragile mentally - but he has no real weaknesses and when he is playing well, he is well nigh unstoppable. I talked about Ruben Bemelmans being this year's Golubev yesterday. I think Golubev might like to be this year's Golubev - thank you very much!