Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XI

[kihei]

A god-awful first set finds Zverev winning a tie breaker by being slightly less terrible than his opponent, Cilic.

Zverev lifts his play just enough while Cilic remains at the bottom of the dumpster with the discarded melon rinds and the soiled baby diapers, 7-6, Sascha.

 

[kihei]

Interesting article about Federer and things that go on behind the scenes.

French radio show lifts the veil on Federer - Tennis.life

France’s Julien Benneteau is wrapping up a long career.
And so, the 36-year-old veteran is well past holding back. And on a French radio show last weekend, he let loose during a startlingly open discussion about conflicts of interest in tennis – notably the ones revolving around Roger Federer.

Benneteau makes some good points, but, hey, Julien this is the way the world works. The rich and powerful play by different rules and as long as they continue to make money for themselves and their partners that's not going to change. As for the preferential scheduling, it's pretty clear that when it comes to Roger and to a lesser extent Rafa, Nole not infrequently does get the short end of the stick. But that's pretty much market driven, too--ask those Wimbledon centre court punters which match they would rather see--Roger versus Struff or Nole versus Monfils--the casual fan will probably pick Roger and Struff 90% of the time. To not put Roger on centre court in that situation is to risk the ire of the big spenders who can afford that arena. In an ideal world, all this would be different but surely no one has any remaining illusions about that.

 

[Hadoop]

Interesting article and I don't doubt it's validity. If Djokovic were playing in a different era he would get prime billing, which he would unequivocally deserve (and by the way for an all-time-great he is wonderful with fans, as I witnessed first-hand this year). That said he isn't - instead he's playing in an era with not one but two players who are objectively bigger draws with casual and hard-core fans alike. It hardly seems fair, but clearly it drives Novak and that's not a bad thing either.

 

[kihei]

Early mid-week and it already looks like an Anderson/Djokovic final is likely. (Later: even more so now)

Anderson off to a fine start against Nishikori, 3-love.

Serving like a man possessed and looking fresh as a daisy, Anderson absolutely crushes Kei in the opening set 6-love.

In the second set, the slaughter continues unabated, 5-love....and Kevin closes it out 6-1.

Poor Kei. Gotta hurt.

 

[kihei]

Talk about being in the zone, especially on serve. Congrats to Kevin on an awesome display.

 

[kihei]

A tired looking Thiem is broken early by Roger, 2-1. Roger is playing better than he did against Kei, but he is still spraying a few groundstrokes all over the place.

Roger continues to play steady tennis as Thiem keeps pounding volleys into the net and hitting groundstrokes long, 5-2, Roger serving for the set.

Pitiful set from Thiem.

2nd set: Dominic still can't find the court and immediately coughs up a sloppy break, 1-love. Hard to imagine a comeback in this circumstance....and there isn't one.

 

[kihei]

Sascha runs a so-so Djokovic a merry chase, but the end result is all too familiar, a double fault on set point, 6-4 Nole

In the second set, Zverev's backhand errors are really piling up--if he doesn't shore that side up fast, he's going to be a goner quickly....too late, 3-1....zoom, 5-1....about ten seconds later, 6-1.

It ended up being an easy day at the office for Nole, just what the doctor ordered.

 

[kihei]

If only Zverev had the fortitude and resolve to match his talent.

 

[kihei]

French Davis Cup team named with no Gasquet and no Monfils. Pouille will be there top-ranked singles player. Imagine depending on Lucas to save your bacon.

 

[kihei]

Kei's embarrassing play continues as heretofore moribund Thiem wins the first set 6-1.

Nishikori puts up a fight in the second set, engaging in some wonderful shot making, but Thiem holds on for a 6-4 win.

All this is very good news for Roger. If he even loses half respectably to Anderson (Roger need win only six games total, I think), he still will win the tiebreaker and move forward to the semis. The tiebreaker for the three 1-2 players (if Anderson wins) is the percentage of games won or lost among Roger, Kei and Dominic. Nishikori's and Dominic's numbers are complete and they're terrible, 26-30 for Dominic, 19-33 for Kei who is done like dinner). With one match to go for Fed, he is currently 21-18.

 

[Hadoop]

Kei's embarrassing play continues as heretofore moribund Thiem wins the first set 6-1.

Nishikori puts up a fight in the second set, engaging in some wonderful shot making, but Thiem holds on for a 6-4 win.

All this is good news for Roger. If he even loses half respectably to Anderson, I think he still will win the tiebreaker handily and move forward to the semis. The tiebreaker for the three 1-2 players (if Anderson wins) is the percentage of games won or lost among Roger, Kei and Dominic. Nishikori's and Dominic's numbers are complete and they're terrible, 26-30 for Dominic, 19-33 for Kei )

Indeed. Roger just needs to win 5 games in 2 sets, though if he continues his patchy form Novak should defeat him comfortably in the semis.

 

[Hadoop]

LOL at my post from earlier. What a turn-around from Federer who didn't do much wrong today against Anderson.

 

[kihei]

Zverev and Isner, 2-1 on serve. This is an interesting test for Sascha who claimed earlier in the week that the courts were too fast for his taste (but too slow for Roger's). Isner and his serve will put that theory to the test.

Zverev wins a very well played first set 7-6.

The 2nd set is another fine set for Sascha who wins it 6-3. Cilic now has to beat Djokovic this afternoon. If he does, he has the advantage over Zverev to move forward. Tall order, though.

 

[kihei]

Who is tougher? Cllint Eastwood in his prime or Ivan Lendl right now. The guy looks like such a badass.

 

[kihei]

Federer/Zverev an Anderson/Djokovic tomorrow. Tougher outcome for Nole than for Roger I'd say.

 

[kihei]

Zverev continues to serve like a demon, (second serve is averaging 106 miles per hour, for instance) but Roger looks sharp, too, dominating whenever he ventures to the net, 3-2 on serve.

Very even match until 6-5 when Sascha breaks Roger at love. Playing brilliantly he really deserved that set.

2nd set: Roger gets right back on the horse and breaks early, 2-1....and Sascha knocks him right back off it, 2-2....4-all and this match seems to be just whizzing by....it goes to a breaker and Zverev wins it with strong play. He makes the final and deservedly so.

 

[Beau Knows]

Damn, was hoping to see another Fed-Djokovic match.

 

[kihei]

Poor Sascha, the sweetness of his win is mitigated by a controversy that shouldn't be one. During play late in the breaker, a ball kid behind Roger dropped a ball that slid on court. Though the umpire didn't see it, Sascha called it and the point was replayed. Federer briefly questioned the call, but checked with the ball boy and play continued. However, the rabidly pro-Roger crowd (aren't they all?) booed Zverev the rest of the breaker and during the post-game interview. I turned the sound up and, unnecessarily in my opinion, Sascha kept apologizing for his decision to halt play. By the time I turned the sound back down, he was still apologizing which didn't help matters. It is a shame that his lovely win over Roger should be tarnished in his mind because he did absolutely nothing wrong.

 

[kihei]

These last two matches reveal an improved Zverev and what his game may look like next year. His serve has become huge and accurate and it dominated his last two opponents throughout both matches. He is still not a sure thing at the net but he is getting much better than he was. And he held his nerve through both matches, too. He looks like he is ready to take a step forward and that serve will be the big weapon that allows him to do so.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Pro-Federer crowd being a bunch of babies again. What is new?

 

[kihei]

Dominating from the baseline and continuing to return serve effectovely, Nole waltzes through the first set 6-2.

And, as in the opening set, breaks Anderson in the first game of the second set....and again dominating from the baseline by nearly a 3-1 margin and serving brilliantly as he has all week, Nole takes the second set just as easily, 6-2.

If Sascha plays well, it should be a good final, but it's hard seeing Nole lose this tournament. On the other hand, I felt the same way going into the final in Paris.

 

[kihei]

Though Djokovic is really playing well, I've noticed in the past few tournaments that he is hitting fewer winners by quite a margin than he did in the old days. Doesn't seem to be hurting him and could be just an anomaly, but it is a curious fact.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

If Sascha plays well, it should be a good final, but it's hard seeing Nole lose this tournament. On the other hand, I felt the same way going into the final in Paris.

Yeah, same. Would be a shame to lose tomorrow given how well he's played (4-0).

 

[kihei]

Another hot service day for Sascha as he takes the first set from a somewhat lethargic Nole, 6-4.

Second set starts with some very long and exhausting points and three straight service breaks. Nole looks gassed at the moment but we know how deceptive that can be, 2-1....but Nole plays terrible, disengaged tennis the rest of the way while Sascha stays cool and collencted. Big win for Sascha.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Ah, just what I feared. Doninate group stage and semi-final then lethargic in the finals.