ATP World Tour Finals 2011, London Calling

First topic message reminder :

Here we go again!

Final tournament for the best 8 of 2011: Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga, Fish.


Some call it the 5th slam, some see it as an exhibiton, as for me, it presents as a super opportunity to expereience some more tennis thrill before the Christmas off-season, to see, hopefully some good matches and the legends of the game, LIVE!!!!

This time last year, the weather was awful, tube drivers were striking, 606v2 didn't exist, I had a near-death experience, and Nole managed to put TWO lenses in one eye and was considered by most to be a one slam wonder....


Haven't things changed in the meantime ?

So, I'm taking this last opportunity of 2011 to:

1) watch tennis in GMT time-zone and not have to wear massive bags under my eyes every morning
2) see a civilized scenario of 2 matches a day (must say a perfect portion!)
3) enjoy seeing those matches in the packed O2 arena every day for every match


And because one never knows what another day may bring, who may or may not be in London this time next year, because above all we all love tennis, let's enjoy the last stop of this 2011 quirky, cosy tennis ride, let the WTF commence


Order of play for Sunday, 18th of November 2011:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Finals/2011.aspx


P.S.

There will be a few people form this forum going to O2 next week. Please find a bit of time to give us your first-hand impressions and perhaps photos and personal anecdotes.

God willing, I'll be there on Sunday and Monday evening sessions.

emancipator wrote:I still haven't seen the match

I am really sorry.

It's not on youtube yet, just some short highlights. I guess I just have to wait.

NITB - I just did

Shame emancipator. Moments when a player plays just about as well as they can dont come that often so shame when they're missed.

lydian wrote:NITB - I just did

Shame emancipator. Moments when a player plays just about as well as they can dont come that often so shame when they're missed.

ok, then....if Federer thrashed Nole like that I'd be very, very , veeeery cross

SirFred must be ecstatic!

laverfan wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Where have all Nadal fans vanished to stand by their man

I am here. As Becker has said in the past... "It was just a Tennis match. No One died..."

Hope Nadal can recover and play better against Tsonga.

That should be a good fight at least...
As for Boris Becker and that quote...yes, that is right, but you know you can't delude a broken fan's heart with anything....
Mind you, if I were a Nadal fan, I wouldn't be too worried...he's had a good year, and this indoor tennis just isn't his scene, is it?
PLUS!!!
Just think how much happiness Nadal brought to Bogbrush and Tenez with this loss tonight

ok...and Fed's tennis was super, but that's secondary ....

wow TMF cannot believe that I had to miss the match, cannot believe that the only highlights I can find on you tube are blurred and cannot believe that when I finally made it in front of a television, Marcus, Annabel and B*nking Boris were discussing Andy's groin and not showing highlights of the Fed vs Rafa clash

I hope you and Lady Fred had a wonderful evening sir Fred? Expect full match report tomorrow

Tenez wrote:SirFred must be ecstatic!

Yes, how fortunate was he to be there!

Fair enough NITB...sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and recognise an excellent win/performance. And when the win is that one-sided its actually kind of easier to accept - I hate it when players lose close matches they should have won. I also personally dont think Nadal was anywhere near his best tonight but even if he was - on this surface and Fed's form tonight it probably wouldnt have made much difference other than to avoid the bagel. But some of these players can do these things like this to each other when you get opposing levels of form, no matter how close their ranking.

But all that aside, as a fan of the game (and as a player who plays with a SHBH!) I do appreciate watching Fed in that kind of form. I've never liked the guy much and have said so often before, but I've always praised his play when he's had good wins - like I say its a joy to watch the game played so sublimely, their havent been many players down the years who could do that really. Mac, Sampras, Federer pretty much I'd say (maybe Edberg and Becker less so)...ruthless attacking tennis is the way the game should be played. There arent that many instances of guys taking other guys apart much...even less so when both are playing pretty well. I dont think tonight qualifies as the latter but it still qualifies as an amazing tennis level. Have to just hold hands up as I say, no bitterness.

emancipator wrote:It's not on youtube yet, just some short highlights. I guess I just have to wait.

It's too bad you're not in the US, you would have been able to view a replay of the entire match on espn3.com

Well well ...... Still trying to work out how Federer turned things round so quickly tonight. I mean he looked to be in deep deep trouble after that dreadful double fault in the opener !! And yet he hung in there, somehow managed to take the set, and then went on to edge the second ...

All congrats to the Swiss maestro on a stunning performance

As for that bagel ..... the way Fed was playing I think Rafa was lucky to get 0 .......

"As for that bagel ..... the way Fed was playing I think Rafa was lucky to get 0 ....... "

Anyone noticed Mirka was in the zone too?

Here is the link to Bagel Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX3OSwDAotk

Full match Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RWtO3OnXXc

Well I can die happy now ! Wonder if Fed has ever played better ? Towards the end he must have felt he was capable of anything - the winners were just flowing and there was nothing Rafa could do.
Fed's always going to be favourite on a quicker, indoor surface. He was getting some cheap points on his serve from the right court, swinging it away on to the left-hander's backhand. For once, Rafa seemed to have no answer. May be Rafa was not 100%, but he was completely steamrollered.
If Fed can play like that there's no reason for him to pack it in any time soon. Let's face it, he only needs to stay in the top eight to be back at the 02 next year.
OK, so everyone only got an hour's tennis last night. But it was still amazing. There were gasps aplenty at the audacity of it all. Totally exhilerating. When you go you realise just how much TV sucks the life out of great sporting occasions. You don't see the power, you don't see the speed, you only get a little of the atmosphere. You can't beat being there.

invisiblecoolers wrote:Here is the link to Bagel Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX3OSwDAotk

Full match Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RWtO3OnXXc

Watching now - the 2nd set went in the blink of an eye. If Fed could bottle that the rest of them might as well not get out of bed.

sirfredperry wrote:
OK, so everyone only got an hour's tennis last night. But it was still amazing. There were gasps aplenty at the audacity of it all. Totally exhilerating. When you go you realise just how much TV sucks the life out of great sporting occasions. You don't see the power, you don't see the speed, you only get a little of the atmosphere. You can't beat being there.

I"ll second that

The only thing when watching live is there's nowhere to hide or no house to vacuum when things go wrong
But I suppose you didn't have those urges last night....

Another thing from watching Federer live is you realise how much physical presence he has on the court, and how obedient his legs are to his upper body.

The Guardian have written what is close to a tennis obituary of Rafa - odd given that he's humped Fed 3/4 times this year and his form invaiably drops off this time of year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/22/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-atp-finals

barrystar wrote:The Guardian have written what is close to a tennis obituary of Rafa - odd given that he's humped Fed 3/4 times this year and his form invaiably drops off this time of year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/22/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-atp-finals

very good write-up, thanks !

But Nadal is recorded in the Telegraph as having said this:

He was too good for me. When I beat him in the Roland Garros final in 2008 it was a similar thing but the difference is that was the final of a Grand Slam and this was a round-robin match.

Don't let the Fed get away with too much, eh?

barrystar wrote:But Nadal is recorded in the Telegraph as having said this:

He was too good for me. When I beat him in the Roland Garros final in 2008 it was a similar thing but the difference is that was the final of a Grand Slam and this was a round-robin match.

Don't let the Fed get away with too much, eh?

Love the spirit, a bit of Federer's own medicine ...

barrystar wrote:But Nadal is recorded in the Telegraph as having said this:

He was too good for me. When I beat him in the Roland Garros final in 2008 it was a similar thing but the difference is that was the final of a Grand Slam and this was a round-robin match.

Don't let the Fed get away with too much, eh?

That's the other side of Nadal. Humble? right.

But it just shows how much he was hurt yesterday!

I watched the match eventually last night.

Awesome display from Fed.

However, Nadal is clearly low on confidence; his balls were far too short (just like against Fish).

Anyway, I'm still chuffed.

But now I've got to prepare for some interviews..

noleisthebest wrote:

barrystar wrote:But Nadal is recorded in the Telegraph as having said this:

He was too good for me. When I beat him in the Roland Garros final in 2008 it was a similar thing but the difference is that was the final of a Grand Slam and this was a round-robin match.

Don't let the Fed get away with too much, eh?

Love the spirit, a bit of Federer's own medicine ...

That's what I thought - they both trash talk reasonably elegantly though, don't they?

Time for Berdy Tipsy match.... Tipsy has no choice but be aggressive from the word go; so long as he doesn't implode, could be interesting!

silly me! It's doubles first....

noleisthebest wrote:Time for Berdy Tipsy match.... Tipsy has no choice but be aggressive from the word go; so long as he doesn't implode, could be interesting!

Wasn't Tipsy sort of a bon vivant? So you might expect him to party a bit after the season has ended.
Otoh, he's taking things more seriously this year, as we could tell by the size of his thighs...

gallery play wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Time for Berdy Tipsy match.... Tipsy has no choice but be aggressive from the word go; so long as he doesn't implode, could be interesting!

Wasn't Tipsy sort of a bon vivant? So you might expect him to party a bit after the season has ended.
Otoh, he's taking things more seriously this year, as we could tell by the size of his thighs...

I know...a bit ridiculous, but everyone improves where they can I suppose....He's an all-round player top 20 material, the fact he broke in top 10 is really by pushing his body to stupid limits. I suppose it's his choice,he must've thought let's give it the ultimate shot, and it's obviously paid off, how long it will last that's another question, I don't think that bothers him much anyway....he's done well under the circumstances.

Wow, just tuned in and Tipsy's already broken Berdy in the first game!

Berdych imploding...2 breaks down....

Must frustrating to play against someone who has noting to lose.

Your observation of Berdych cracking down to "lesser" opponents working well..

Janko's so pumped up I bet if you asked him what his name was he wouldn't know
Great first set from him.

Berdych is, of course, his own worst enemy, but you've got to feel a bit sorry for him. He chokes when he could have taken Djoko, his next opponent is injured, and he finds himself being gubbed by Djoko's relatively lowly compatriot.

Tipsarevic is capable of beating Ferrer - quite a turn up if he qualifies for the SF as reserve. Has that ever happened before?

Don't know...but the art of RR combinations now is starting to have a life of its own...nobody was predicting this last week!

Tipsy won't play Ferrer though (he carries Murray's loss for that one), and like all good Serbians he'll fold nicely against Djokovic, so will struggle to get through, though we could have three players on one win apiece. Plenty of tennis left in this one though...

barrystar wrote:.................................................................................
Tipsarevic is capable of beating Ferrer - quite a turn up if he qualifies for the SF as reserve. Has that ever happened before?

I seem to think Henman actually once played in a WTF as first reserve (as well as qualifying 'normally' in another year). Not sure how far he got though ......

Again. Tipsy won't play Ferrer, he carries Murray's loss in that match on his record (possibly harsh but there you go...).

Berdy levels at one set all

Come on Berdy, deck him.

excellent

a fellow Berdych fan

Great, 3rd set!!! That was my pre-match wish....

No your wish is Tipsy to win

Mad for Chelsea wrote:excellent

a fellow Berdych fan

There are a few of us. Berdy can still make these semis.

Fans attacking players with Rizla

Jahu wrote:No your wish is Tipsy to win

have you got a problem with my wishes?

Nah, just tell them real and not politiclly correct ones i.e third set wishes.

Jahu wrote:Nah, just tell them real and not politiclly correct ones i.e third set wishes.

so you do have a problem...well, it's all yours...as usual

Credit to Tipsy. Sitting in the wings and waiting for a chance and being able to come out and put a display in. Berdy looking so vulnerable on the running FH. The guy is number 6 in the world and to have such a big weakness given that Tsonga hits a better FH on the run. Not sure why Berdy is engaging in long rallies. Will be the death of him!

legendkillar wrote:Not sure why Berdy is engaging in long rallies. Will be the death of him!

Trying to prove he's got a plan B...