ATP MASTERS 1000 Indian Wells: Let The Party Commence!

First topic message reminder :

At last!

Tennis is back in town. And sleepless nights, and bags under the eyes in the mornings.

For a fortnight or so, we'll forget about fast courts and GOATs and watch some good tennis for a change.

Indian Wells first 1000 Masters event of the year, first "big" tournament after AO.

All players are there, fit and raring to go, the "come-backers": Davydenko, Querrey, Simon, the "newcomers": Tomic (I think he's already out), Raonic, Dolgopolov, and last , but not the least the "big" 4.

I'm sure you'll forgive me for focusing on the top 4 players, because at the moment, they all seem be pretty keen to win this tournament (which is not always the case when it comes to non-slam tournaments).

Nole, who loves slow hard-courts of IW, will want to continue where he stopped in Melbourne, and should he bump into Murray in the semis, show him who's the boss.

Nadal, match-free for nearly 6 weeks, must've worked on his game or serve in the meantime, 2012 is his make or break season in many ways, and it's usually this time of the year he gets going as a warm-up for clay season.

Federer, on a good winning streak since last autumn (lost only two matches, one to Nadal one to Djokovic), will want to get a good result and possibly close the points gap between him and Nadal, or at least keep Murray at bay.

Murray, with, I believe Lendl again by his side, must be hoping that this 2012 is his slam-break-through year: he has been working very hard for several years and generally improving his game and shots. His win over Novak in Dubai must have boosted his confidence immensely, still, he failed to capitalise on it and win Dubai, failing to Federer.
He has few points to defend in IW and Miami, and a great opportunity to move up the rankings.

The players have had a party last night, and all seem to be happy to be there and play.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8T10SOE

Indian Wells has apparently continued to improve their facilities and make life nicer both for players and fans :

( http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2012/03/nice-work-if-i-can-get-it.html )

In today's order of play, we have some interesting matches, and Novak and Murray out on central court.

Order of play for Friday, 16th of March:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/404/op.pdf



So, let's enjoy the return of tennis and may the Best win

Finally, last but not the least:

GO NOLEEEEE

I'm wrong!!!! Order of play for tomorrow: Nole Isner match first (6PM, followed by Nadal Federer. Great!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/404/op.pdf

Goodnight nitb, take care lot of tennis left to be played.

Good luck to Federer, he will need it.

Nole - Isner should be one-sided; even more so than Rafa - Roger.

I must say I have been very pleased with Federer's level of play the last few months - starting with the French really. I thought he played really well at the AO too. Even in the Nadal match, unfortunately that one is just so hard for him. He has had some ups and downs but if anything, he has been on an upward trajectory. Not bad for a man in his thirties. I wonder if he can keep it up for another few years. Tennis players usually do not last much past thirty but many drop off due to mental burnout more than due to the advanced age. And Federer seems to be keen and happy to go on.

summerblues - agreed, very very few last much beyond thirty, and of those who do, even fewer achieve anything of real significance within the context of their earlier playing years. Some might just enjoy the rough & tumble of the circuit of course (Connors), although as his daughters grow to school age I seriously doubt Roger would still want to be travelling the world

Despite the very impressive (remarkable even ?) W/L ratio stretching back to USO 2011, Federer's work on court, IMHO, is pretty much done anyway, his tennis legacy is of course already secured, and anything from hereon in is a mere bonus. That's been my view for around 18 months now, and although he obviously understands his own game, motivation and physical shape rather better than I do, I am nonetheless surprised to hear him talk on occasion about another three/four years. I just don't see it happening. But then again I could be very wrong on this (as I have been on all sorts of things !

As someone mentioned on another thread (lydian I think ...?) I also believe that once the real decline (ie by Fed's own standards) begins it might all unravel pretty quickly and drop from a level where he is very comfortably holding down the number 3 spot to one where he loses regularly to a tier of players who have rarely - if ever - been able to trouble him so far

There was much discussion about advancing years and the when-to-retire dilemma over on the 'awesome video tribute' thread, and comparisons with Sampras et al ..... worth a look if you haven't already.

And I meant to add summerblues - not sure it's 'luck' that he needs tonight but it's more about combining the consistency shown during his streak since AO, more of the fighting spirit seen when coming back twice this week from a set down, and of course raising his overall game a good notch or two now that he's up against stronger opposition and battle-hardened experience in the shape of mighty Rafa.

All that said, I'm expecting a pretty comfortable win for Rafa, and (oddly perhaps) a much shorter match for him than against Nalby

noleisthebest wrote:
Nole did not only get fitter he filled out, as well, I said it many times. And the matches he lost were very close, anyway. He also turned pro later than Nadal, and was still picking up big match playing experience. He is peaking at the moment in every way as a player which is why he is performing like he is.
What makes you think Federer is less fit than Nole or Nadal?

That's my point. Like Federer's and Nalby's. At the end of the day, Djoko wins now cause he can play those long gruelling rallies that Federer, Nalbandian and nobody else on the tour can play.

What makes you think Federer is less fit than Nole or Nadal?

It's just bloody obvious. His 5 setter recordisnot good but more importantly his game is based on a superior timing than anybody else. This is what's fragile and goes away rather quickly, not his ability to run for 5 hours. When Nadal and Djoko have run for 3hours, they still have their bigger marguin shots to rely on whereas Federer sharper game goes away and his shots whcih were risky in the first 2 sets become even riskier. This is what Nadal says in his book. He needs to be patient.

It's the biathlon parallel.

Even if that was true (and I dont buy he has better timing than say Djoko or Nadal, he just chooses to play a riskier strategy) thats just a feature of sport. Its the strategy he chooses to employ...if he's not able to reduce his risk as a match goes on to continue to be able live with Nadal and Djoko then that's his problem. The problem is Federer doesnt tend to have anything beyond Plan A as matches progress. He chooses to live by the sword, so as a match goes on he therefore chooses to die by it too if he cant change/adapt to the changing situations.

Of course Lydian, according to you once again it's Federer who simply hasn't got a plan B.

What is this plan B your are talking about? running around for 5 hours sending moonball?

What you fail to see again, it's that Nadal has only got a plan B and that is to wait for Fed to tire on a slow court and finally cash in on his bigger lungs like he did again yesterday versus Nalbandian. His plan B (actually his A) is absoluteley useless versus Djokovic and it's clear that Nadal has no plan C or D and will rely simply on hitting even harder than ever and lasting longer.

The problem is that Federer is not a cyclical player. He plays from January to November exactly the same way. Is that what you call not having a plan B?

lydian wrote:Even if that was true (and I dont buy he has better timing than say Djoko or Nadal, he just chooses to play a riskier strategy) thats just a feature of sport. Its the strategy he chooses to employ...if he's not able to reduce his risk as a match goes on to continue to be able live with Nadal and Djoko then that's his problem. The problem is Federer doesnt tend to have anything beyond Plan A as matches progress. He chooses to live by the sword, so as a match goes on he therefore chooses to die by it too if he cant change/adapt to the changing situations.

Lydian, that's absurd.

Even if that was true (and I dont buy he has better timing than say Djoko or Nadal, he just chooses to play a riskier strategy) thats just a feature of sport. Its the strategy he chooses to employ...if he's not able to reduce his risk as a match goes on to continue to be able live with Nadal and Djoko then that's his problem. The problem is Federer doesnt tend to have anything beyond Plan A as matches progress. He chooses to live by the sword, so as a match goes on he therefore chooses to die by it too if he cant change/adapt to the changing situations.

It depends how you define having a plan B. No players truly have a clearly separate plan B; it's not like you're going to see Djokovic start serve-volleying on every point if he's not playing well from the baseline, or Ivo Karlovic start rolling in first serves and try and grind it out from the back of the court. Most players play in one way, and if that's not working then there's not a whole lot they can really do about it. They might try and reign in their shots if they're spraying errors all over the place, or throw in the odd chip and charge or whatever, but a lot of it comes down to hoping that they'll find their form and start making the shots again.

Well put Chafazzer. Too much analysis at times re Plans A, B, C etc !!

Yes, the strategy/tactics may vary for a specific opponent and of course there is a need for flexibility mid-match too, but fundamentally anyone at this stratospheric level of the sport must have trust in his most natural and most 'comfortable' playing style if he is to come through

And invariably that's not only what we see happening before us when matches swing one way and then the other (eg a player can suddenly come good again after losing a set heavily, combined with a dip from his opponent) but is also reflected in their post-match interview comment.

Lydian why won't you buy that Federer has better timing than say Djoko or Nadal? You want to say Djo and Nadal have the timing ( of shotmaking, No timing of MTOs ) as good as Federer. Can you give some points to it?

Sounds like a good discussion topic.

I think most people refer to plans more to their aspect of choice of shots against their opponent than how many different styles they practice.

Plan "B" for Murray against Nadal say, is to pound his back-hand side twice as much as normal and don't drop shot at all.

Its a bit ambiguous, but I think we may all hope that a player has some miraculous way of getting out of a drubbing.

First match at 6 and Sky's coverage ends at 10, would they continue to show the tennis after 10 so we can see Fedal end? Red button is useless to me as I only have Sky Go...

HB - I don't have Sky but when Eurosport screen live tennis they will (mostly) continue to the end of a match even if it means overrunning their published schedules. Likewise with a lot of live sport - their programme timings can only ever be an estimate. Would like to think Sky follow same pattern .... surely ...?

What the hell just happened? How did Isner get the break,it looked like they kept playing?

Johny Boy outsmarting Nole with his skills.

What the hell, the big Johnny Bravo is completely outsmarting Djoko with Tennis skills, how on earth he improved his skills, fitness, mental strenght in space of less than 2 years, amazing.

CMON OWNER (as nitb said)

I wish I was still stuck in that traffic jam...

invisiblecoolers wrote:Johny Boy outsmarting Nole with his skills.

I thought you'd've noticed that when he beat Federer a few weeks ago..

Isner is showing he deserves to be in the top 10. A well deserved win today it has to be said, took his chances and defended his serve well. After losing that MP on Nole;s serve he held his nerve in the TB really well when he had a lot of pressure on him. Isner really announced himself tonight.
Nole will be back though....

noleisthebest wrote:

invisiblecoolers wrote:Johny Boy outsmarting Nole with his skills.

I thought you'd've noticed that when he beat Federer a few weeks ago..

It was noticeable against Nadal at RG/FO. (PS: or perhaps the DC five-setter on clay against Djokovic, IIRC).

Will this be the thread for commenting on Fed vs Nadal (assuming rain stops) or should someone create a separate one?

I'll create a match thread.

Henman Bill wrote:Will this be the thread for commenting on Fed vs Nadal (assuming rain stops) or should someone create a separate one?

I don't know. Feel free to comment here if noone else does a separate thread (btw, what's the point of having separate therads covering the same match)

Nadal Federer calls for another thread.

amritia3ee wrote:Nadal Federer calls for another thread.

why?

It just does.

amritia3ee wrote:Nadal Federer calls for another thread.

Nadal calls for another thread, Federer disagrees - typical!

JuliusHMarx wrote:

amritia3ee wrote:Nadal Federer calls for another thread.

Nadal calls for another thread, Federer disagrees - typical!

So Nadal fires a backhand technique and wins

Congrats big John, a very good effort. Perfect gameplan and great execution. Tough to swallow as a Novak fan to lose your serve once in three sets and lose two tiebreakers one mini break in each tiebreaker. But after Novak lost the first set with one loose service game at the end it was going to be a struggle. Congrats John for breaking into the top ten, getting your first win against the world #1 and making the your first masters final. I wish you well in the final.