The real Tennis thread.

[Nirvana]

Federer always remind us in every press conference or interview that he needs to take breaks to keep playing for long time but everytime he takes a break his level varies from bad to totally crap in the first matches after the break and this year he won his only Master 1000 at Miami on the back of Dubai and Indian Wells and he hit his best level between Roland Garros and Winbledon in the busiest part of his season.

 

[Red Rick]

Federer always remind us in every press conference or interview that he needs to take breaks to keep playing for long time but everytime he takes a break his level varies from bad to totally crap in the first matches after the break and this year he won his only Master 1000 at Miami on the back of Dubai and Indian Wells and he hit his best level between Roland Garros and Winbledon in the busiest part of his season.

Fed needs the breaks to play a million exho's in the off season

 

[tobydawq]

Two matches against Federer and Djokovic, two wins. Pretty sharp work by Thiem.

Federer really has to step up big time tomorrow if he wants to proceed to the semifinals for the 16th time (these stats are starting to become mind-boggling).

 

[Red Rick]

Two matches against Federer and Djokovic, two wins. Pretty sharp work by Thiem.

Federer really has to step up big time tomorrow if he wants to proceed to the semifinals for the 16th time (these stats are starting to become mind-boggling).

Starting?

Anyway Thiem definitely broke through on HC for me. His Slams have been hurt by injuries and illness but he won a 1000 and 2 500s on HC this year. If he gets Nadal in the semi's he could become the first player (I think) to beat all the Big 3 in one tournament, only to probably get a Big 3 player in the final again

 

[Nirvana]

Fed needs the breaks to play a million exho's in the off season

If he thinks that playing exhibitions worth more than Bercy (and keeping match rhythm ahead of the finals) or than a tournament to tune up ahead the Australian Open to avoid showing up in crap mode maybe it's time to switch to the senior tour instead of saying "I want to keep playing for long".

 

[tobydawq]

Right, because a guy who is one point from winning Wimbledon is obviously not good enough to play on the Tour...

 

[Nirvana]

But i didn't say that he's not good enough to play in the ATP tour, i said that if he prefers to take breaks that make him play bad when he returns to prioritize exhibitions doesn't worth continuing.

As i said previously "this year he won his only Master 1000 at Miami on the back of Dubai and Indian Wells and he hit his best level between Roland Garros and Winbledon in the busiest part of his season" and i don't think this is a coincidence, he needs to play to reach a level good enough to compete for the win in big tournaments but he's doing the opposite more and more.

 

[Red Rick]

I wonder if Fed still believes he can win in Australia. Or he's taking it slower cause the Olympics will make the summer schedule even bigger. I could see somebody outside the Big 3 winning the USO because of that.

Djokovic-Federer for a semi spot today. Don't see how Djokovic can lose to be honest. Nadal got off very luckily yesterday, and still has a shot at qualifying. Zverev went from great to horrendous in all of 5 minutes vs Tsitsipas yesterday.

 

[tobydawq]

Federer really has to step up big time tomorrow if he wants to proceed to the semifinals for the 16th time (these stats are starting to become mind-boggling).

And step up big time he has certainly done.

What an incredible first set. Djokovic with no chance.

 

[tobydawq]

Very surprising. Djokovic played quite badly but Federer was top notch.

16th semifinals in 17 participations. In a tournament that only includes the eight best players in the world of the year. Wow. Just wow.

 

[Red Rick]

Quite the anticlimax from Fed today. Going 1/12 on break points, still one better than vs Tsitsipas in Australia earlier in the year.

I wonder what happened. Perhaps he pushed himself too hard vs Djokovic but that would imply he's literally playing almost all matches at 80%.

 

[Nirvana]

Djokovic played pretty bad against Federer, especially in the first set his return was terrible (i don't remember him winning a single point on Federer's 2nd serve in the entire set) and i think that's helped a lot the old man in his win.

 

[Red Rick]

Djokovic played pretty bad against Federer, especially in the first set his return was terrible (i don't remember him winning a single point on Federer's 2nd serve in the entire set) and i think that's helped a lot the old man in his win.

Yeah Djoko wasn't great, and I think Fed's mentality is really different in different matches. He's not afraid of losing against Djokovic, and Djoko put up no pressure to give Fed a chance to start playing worse.

Meanwile, Thiem vs Tsistsipas. *** I hope Thiem wins.

 

[Red Rick]

18 year old Jannik Sinner backs up his Next Gen Finals win by winning the challenger in Ortisei without losing a set. Enters the top 80.

Really wondering how he'll do on the main Tour next year.

 

[Red Rick]

Meanwile, Thiem vs Tsistsipas. *** I hope Thiem wins.

Timmy why are you doing this to me?

 

[Red Rick]

Andy Murray's documentary 'Resurfacing' just premiered. It rougly documents the period of injury starting around Wimbledon 2017 to Queens' 2019. It's brilliant.

 

[tobydawq]

Caroline Wozniacki will end her career after the Australian Open.

If she wasn't Danish I probably wouldn't care about that one bit, but it is going to feel a little empty without her.

 

[movingtarget]

More injury woes for Murray

Andy Murray pulls out of Australian Open after setbacks in recovery

Andy Murray, who has struggled with a pelvic problem since the Davis Cup finals six weeks ago, will not return to the Tour until February

www.theguardian.com

 

[Red Rick]

Spain vs Serbia for all the marbles in the brand new ATP cup.

Djokovic has looked average so far, Nadal has looked bad. On this surface Djoko probably easily beats Nadal, while RBA probably easily beats Lajovic, which hopefully means Djoko and Nadal will also play doubles for the title. That would be fun.

Was fun seeing Kyrgios actually try and then fail badly vs RBA.

 

[Merckx index]

Federer seems resigned to finishing third all-time in GS wins:

“I think the way it’s going, obviously, Rafa and Novak will win more,” Federer told Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press in Dubai, “because they’re that good. And the season they had (in 2019), again, shows that there is more to come for them.”

Roger Federer Say It’s ‘Obvious’ Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic ‘Will Win More’ Grand Slam Titles Than Him

Roger Federer is locked in a historic battle with rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for supremacy atop men’s tennis, but he knows time is not on his side.

www.forbes.com

 

[Red Rick]

Federer seems resigned to finishing third all-time in GS wins:

Roger Federer Say It’s ‘Obvious’ Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic ‘Will Win More’ Grand Slam Titles Than Him

Roger Federer is locked in a historic battle with rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for supremacy atop men’s tennis, but he knows time is not on his side.

www.forbes.com

Not quite sure why he'd say it. Also, Nadal, fine. But Djokovic looks like a massive shade on the younger players to me.

But then it's Federer who's shades are usually very unintentional.

 

[The Hitch]

Federer seems resigned to finishing third all-time in GS wins:

Roger Federer Say It’s ‘Obvious’ Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic ‘Will Win More’ Grand Slam Titles Than Him

Roger Federer is locked in a historic battle with rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for supremacy atop men’s tennis, but he knows time is not on his side.

www.forbes.com

This is the real life equivalent of the fan who says "ok it's over" 10 minutes into a game when the first thing goes wrong.

 

[SHAD0W93]

This is the real life equivalent of the fan who says "ok it's over" 10 minutes into a game when the first thing goes wrong.

In other words, my mother. Heaven forbid if they don't score every time and dominate.

 

[tobydawq]

That was really lucky for Federer. Down 8-4 in the match tie-break and then out of nowhere six straight points.

 

[Red Rick]

Didn't see it. Gotta hand it to the old man to still dig it out in these sorts of matches.

Tsitsipas straight setted by Raonic must hurt. Raonic is clearly underranked when he plays like this, but Tsitsipas had nothing at all and, but this does make the 4th consecutive Grand Slam where Tsitsipas loses in the first week while being a top 8 seed. I do think Raonic is a horrible matchup for him though.