Rogers Cup and Cincinatti

First topic message reminder :

Stats definitely not my forte but I have just been looking at how many points the big names have to defend in the the next couple of weeks.

Djokovic Canada W  Cincinnati F 1600
Murray Canada R16 Cincinnati R16 180
Ferrer Canada - Cincinnati R32 10
Nadal Canada - Cincinnati - 0
Federer Canada - Cincinnati W 1000

Very unlikely to be any shuffling at the top (would take a great fortnight by Murray (possible) combined with an epic fail by Djokovic (not going to happen)).

Murray, Ferrer and Nadal both have a great opportunity to strengthen their positions though.  This is the polite way of saying that two of them really should have done better last year! (Edit: Born Slippy has since pointed out that Murray withdrew from Canada last year (knee injury))

Really hope Federer does play Canada this year.  He has a lot of points to defend at Cinci and it could take the pressure off a bit.

Should be a fun fortnight.  Can't wait to see the big names out in force again

The mind is willing but I'm not sure the body is anymore...

Still, Haas is conspiring to throw Federer an olive branch at 4-3, 0-40!

...and Haas duly obliges with some error strewn charity of his own. It's not like Haas to choke near the finishing line against a top player

Petchey uses the word "choke" too...it sure was and now Haas has given Federer belief. Roger should take this now.

Irrespective of which wily crone progresses the next round is going to be a demolition job - yes I am overlooking Dimitrov as his fate is likely to be similarly one-sided.
3rd set to go to a tie-break with Federer raining on Haas' Indian Summer parade by edging it methinks.....

There are smatterings of quality from Roger, and he seems to be moving ok. Some of the errors are terrible for him though. He's lacking rhythm and confidence. I guess that's to be expected after such a long break.

I'm not sure what would be best for him, getting the win or going out. Because if he plays like this against Rafa... Then oh dear.

Well at least the extended match might have grooved some kind of better form for him but it wasn't a great match in general, as Danny says there were the odd patches of brilliance but ultimately Haas choked this match away in the 2nd.

Extends Roger's lead in the H2H to 12-3... I wonder if Tommy haas too much trouble beating Federer because he has too much respect for him.

See what I did there?

^ Comedy gold. Juan to consider a career in comedy mate.

See what I did?

The Special Juan wrote:Extends Roger's lead in the H2H to 12-3...  I wonder if Tommy haas too much trouble beating Federer because he has too much respect for him.

See what I did there?  

Special, Juan

Sarcasm isn't as hard to detect over the internet as I thought.

Danny_1982 wrote:^ Comedy gold. Juan to consider a career in comedy mate.

See what I did?

I always wanted to be a stand-up comedian myself.

But when I told my careers adviser he just laughed.

I thought you were going to say "...I told my careers adviser, stood up and he just laughed".

Murray cruises through 2 and 2. I never saw the match but that's a very good win against a potentially difficult opponent.

Excellent from Murray. Moved really well, served unbelievably well. Different man from last week.

Lags - the old ones are the best.

Before I go to bed I'll call it - Dimitrov to beat Nadal (cue Dimi being dismantled 1 and 1).

That's a bold call Juan.

Rafa in straights for me. Playing too well.

I never saw Andy's match as I was working but the result ensures Andy will remain at No.2 in the rankings for the US Open.  

Murray looks really sharp this week. I suspect last week was a bit of a wake-up call (not in the fact he went out early, but in just how undercooked he looked) so this week he's come out and played much much better. He's hitting the BH really nicely, serving beautifully, and returning really well too.

Danny_1982 wrote:That's a bold call Juan.

Rafa in straights for me. Playing too well.

Ah it went so well for Dimi for about 2 games I really thought the fast court would help him greatly. That serve is awesome when it's working.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I never saw Andy's match as I was working but the result ensures Andy will remain at No.2 in the rankings for the US Open.  

It was so good, that it was almost boring. The only surprise was that Julien won any games!!. Andy still looks on auto-pilot for me, but I think he might start to go through the gears later

And he'll have to do, against arguably the one opponent who often makes him play badly

Still, I'm cool. It's the US, that is the most important

I've just read Sharapova has fired Connors after 1 match!!

Oh what a firework display there must have been TSJ, tremendous stuff.

I would pay good money for a transcript of the "private" discussions which culminated in his dismissal - and even more for a video clip ........

Well when she's paying him a reported $20000 a week to shout "Keep working! Come on!" from the stands something has to be done.

Highlights suggest Nadal was thrashing Dimitrov, got a little sloppy and then comtinued thrashing him. Accurate analysis of play?

kingraf wrote:Highlights suggest Nadal was thrashing Dimitrov, got a little sloppy and then comtinued thrashing him. Accurate analysis of play?

Yeah thats pretty accurate, however the 2nd set Dimitrov served Federer like and was holding pretty easily and actually should have broken at 5-4 as well. From the moment Rafa went a break up in the 2nd, Dimitrov seemed to relax and played very well.He hit some incredible passing shots and winners but Rafa was chucking in double faults and missed volleys.

I would say Grigor played about 20 percent better 2nd set and Rafa 20 percent worse. However, a poor service game, first game of 3rd set Dimitrovs head dropped and Rafa just ran away with it.

IMO even in the first set Dimitrov was doing a few things that threw Nadal a little. He's got a great 1st serve in terms of accuracy and the way he can mix it up this gave him loads of easy points. He was returning so well on Nadal's second serve that I reckon Nadal took something off his first to protect it. Nadal made loads of unforced errors hitting into the net IMO caused a bit by Dimitrov's use of slice. Dimitrov also managed to stay with Nadal in some of the ultra long rallys and win... that in itself must have been unsettling.

I can understand the hype around Dimitrov because he's fun to watch and has the variety to be able to adopt different tactics. Classy on court behavior too but just not enough consistency. But isn't that the problem for so many players?

He has to improve his return, first and foremost imo.

^ Dimitrov's return was excellent? In the 2nd set Nadal's points won on 2nd serve was just 12%!

anyone else think he needs to improve his balance a little? He always seems like he is about to fall over!

Age: 22

Slam titles: 0
1000 titles: 0
500 titles: 0
250 titles: 0
Best ever performance at a slam: 3R
Best ever performance at a 1000: QF (once)

I'd love to know where the idea that Dimitrov is a great talent comes from.

Look at his stats on the atp tour for returning or break points or whatevs.

I agree with Murdoch (that seems to be happening a lot recently!).

He looks like a poor man's Federer. The only thing about his game which matches up to Federer is perhaps the BH slice.

Even his serve, whilst being more powerful, doesn't have the variety, placement or clutch of the Federer serve.

I'd even back olderer to beat him.

HM Murdoch wrote:Age: 22

Slam titles: 0
1000 titles: 0
500 titles: 0
250 titles: 0
Best ever performance at a slam: 3R
Best ever performance at a 1000: QF (once)

I'd love to know where the idea that Dimitrov is a great talent comes from.

it's because he has a one-handed BH and visually his game looks a bit like Federer's (which isn't surprising as he's clearly modelled it on Fed). Unfortunately people take that to mean he's super-talented. He isn't, he's got a good static FH (doesn't hit it well on the run), good serve, nice BH slice. His rallying shots are mostly ordinary, his movement average, mentally he struggles to close out sets, and his return isn't that hot either...

more talented than murray imo.

Whilst we're on the topic of slagging youngsters, what do people see in Goffin? He's one of the most lightweight players I've ever seen and looks like he feathers the ball back to his opponents. Like Janowicz, he's only "famous" for having two good tournament runs but unlike Janowicz, he hasn't gotten very far in those tournaments.

TSJ - I'm with you on that one. Nice, clean striker of the ball, but that's it.

Goffin has a lovely feel for the game, but as Juan says lacks the power to really threaten the top.

I'd be interested to hear who people think will be the next person to win a slam for the first time. JJ seems to me to have the most tools to do it... But I'd like to know who others think will be the next one.

As much as we slag the youngsters off, one or two of them have to come good.... Unless people think Murray, Rafa, Novak and Delpo will be winning them well into their 30's.

Someone needs to have something special to stop JIsner this week in these conditions. He's very good at breaking his opponents when it's fast making him difficult to beat. There's the first set won against Novak on a TB.

Come on Isner, knock his lights out.

I sometimes think its better for a GS contender to lose to relative underdog, rather than a fellow member of the big four, in a tournament heading into a Slam. Losing to a non-big 4 means you dont concede any psychological momentum to the guys most likely to beat you in a slam.

King, you seem to be scared Rafa will lose to an outside top 4 tonight then?

Haha - Im a little worried, but not going to lose sleep over it (literally, Im not staying up for it), I just would have preferred Rafa losing 2nd Round and having had two weeks two tweak his game for USO.

That said, a Federer win wouldnt suprise me, although I think Nadal is going to defeat him.

Perhaps, but I also think that you need to be careful you don't become fallible in the eyes of the underdogs. At the US Open those that draw Murray and Djokovic will know that they've reached the "Finals" stage of the Slams for quite a while, but that a few weeks before, unheralded stars had taken down Nadal and Federer.

Imagine how bad Isner's return game would look if the courts were sped up! But in an addition by subtraction way, he'd probably end up on more titles

Come on Isner, break him now, thought a TB should go your way as well.

Isner FTW!

Isner 2 points from the match. Come on boy.

Match point.

Djoko Double fault.

And he knocks Djoko in the nuts.

Well done Isner. Man of the month.

Chokovic (Really, we getting in that territory now) double faults (umpteenth double fault on a big point) to give Isner match point. and thats all she wrote.

It is another defeat for Djokovic in a match (a year or two ago) he'd never have lost. That man of steel image he built up has gone and the iron will has gone rusty for the time being. He'll need to refind it and quick.

A great win for John Isner - a player who has quite a bit going for him. How he'll fair against Del Potro I am not so sure.

I do wish Andy wouldn't get so irritated. He started the match really well, but then got annoyed with the noise from centre, a couple of iffy calls and he's been in a strop since.

Some good play by Berdych to be fair, but I do feel Andy is beating himself a little bit here.