US Open - Matches

First topic message reminder :

Have changed the topic so that this thread can run through the tournament. Hope that's OK

So that brings back to the initial question what exactly have you achieved in life or what have you done to the sport extra that a casual fan like me [since you branded me casual] hasn't done other than those poppy poo statement?  

Die Hard fans for an individual sport like Tennis are just brainless and dumb that in general they don't have IQ or a level close to zero in everything.

Bud... You really dont know what you are talking about... But since you asked, I taught kids in a rural school in Gauteng (Germiston) tennis, Did it from Feb to June. Now I teach them cricket, Ive been robbed twice there, once of my cellphone, once of my car (retrieved). The pay is pathetic, and the talent level isnt exactly sky-rocketing, but Im doing something. What of you?

@ Kingraf , are you that dumb? you provoked me for an argument and now crying I am arguing? for the last one hour I have been watching Jack Sock vs Tipsy match and commenting on a thread created by my own and occasionally updates on the match thread.

Your needless to prove you are a die hard and I am a casual started the argument, now crying for innocence is stupidity and claiming you cannot understand why we arguing is even more stupidity.

Last but not least, a casual fan would not open a thread and comment on his own about a match , so if you are moronic so am I.

Rafa through winning 6-4 6-3 6-3. Nadal had high and lows in that match but came through with minimum fuss in just over two hours.

Isner now a break up in the second set leading 5-2.

kingraf wrote:Bud... You really dont know what you are talking about... But since you asked, I taught kids in a rural school in Gauteng (Germiston) tennis, Did it from Feb to June. Now I teach them cricket, Ive been robbed twice there, once of my cellphone, once of my car (retrieved). The pay is pathetic, and the talent level isnt exactly sky-rocketing, but Im doing something. What of you?

Thats nothing related to Tennis right? our argument is with respect to this sport? and you failed miserably again.

On general life I have achieved more success and failures than you and more experience than you as well, if I remember you told you are close to 18 or some where around that age, if thats the case I have atleast done something more than you for 10 extra years.

You are certainly no where close to my level in education, nor in job profile, but yes you are right I do have hell lot of ego coz I know I deserve that, but you certainly don't deserve your stupid ego.

Isner with a break This could be a five-set thriller

Enough guys! Stop having a go at each other.

Isner seals the second set 6-3 and we are level at one set all. Gasquet a set up against Tursenov.

JHM - I hear you, but IC has been repeatedly turning unrelated my comments into sideshows about him for a while now. Youve done nothing about. To now step in when I finally respond is, to put it bluntly, mysifying... Almost like it was fine when he did it. But now that I have responded... Ive gone too far

kr, I don't continually monitor the forum
I just stopped by my PC, caught up with what was going on and asked for it to stop. No more, no less.

As an aside, Rafa rates his victory today as his best match in USO 2013. Interesting thoughts given the Mauling he handed out last time out

I understand that this isnt you dayjob, JHM. But for three or four weeks he has been baiting me Ive tried to leave it alone, and now Im suddenly the baddie of the play. Read the comment that started everything, and tell if it justifies the fallout

I think he realises that Dodig played really well yet still he made it look routine.

As I've said before, if anyone has a problem with posts, please PM me or report it, otherwise a) I might simply miss it or b) I might not realise the offence it causes (my judgement obviously isn't going to be 100% correct, even if ultimately I have to make the final decision)
I'm not labelling anyone as a bad guy, just asking for it to cool down.

I get the feeling Kohlschreiber has to win this set or Isner becomes hot favourite.

This is a tad out there, but Im really impressed by the fightback Nadals hair line has shown. Circa 2009, he seemed destined to follow Andre Agassi in the hair (or lack thereof) stakes. It has held the line beautifully

By breaking serve in that second set, Isner exceeded all my expectations, so anything he does from here is a bonus. Looking good Kohli.

Kohlschreiber breaks Isner to take the third set. Isner will have to dig deep now. Gasquet has been pegged back to one set all by Dimitry Tursenov and it is going with serve at 2-2 in the third set.

Evans match looms closer. It is a match that he goes into full of confidence I would have thought. However, Robredo is a battler and he won't fade away like Tomic so Evans will be in for a real scrap. Win or lose he knows he has had a great tournie so just needs to go out and enjoy himself. I am off to bed to watch this match - best of luck Evans.

This will be a different sort of challenge for Evans. Robredo has been around far longer than Nishikori or Tomic (in fact it seems like forever !) and has seen pretty much everything the tour can throw up.

Do hope Evans can acquit himself well, even if Tommy's vast battle-hardened experience proves a bridge too far for him tonight ........

Spain's most stylish man 2010 He plays a similar game to Nishikori but as lags has mentioned, he has near a decade on Evans in experience. I think it will be a good match and if Evans plays great tennis consistently he has a great chance.

Anyway, I think the rain's away to start.

Tremendous from Evans so far. Really in the match, playing the better stuff. He's terrific to watch. His ability to change the pace is very good, and his slice is gorgeous.

Good match this. If Evans can maintain this level he has a great chance. Worry is when sets get to the business end, Robredo's experience may tell.

It'll be a shame if that really awful smash ends up costing Evo the set. There's been pretty much nothing between them up until now.

He has learned one thing from Murray - his language!!

Gonna take something pretty special for Evans to bring this back

Evans has infinitely more bottle than James Ward. He is well in this match.

Wozniacki is a disgraceful pusher.

She's the worst person imaginable to have play before your favourite comes on. I fully expect her to lose this second set and take this disgraceful pushfest into a third set.

Frak disgraceful, pushniacki chokes away the second set. What a useless pusher.

Gutted for Dan. Gave it away in the end when the pressure cranked up, but he will be better for the experience. Could easily be a top 50 player on this evidence.

Now kick on lad! Don't let this hard work go to waste!

Went to bed as Evans lost the second set, assuming a straight forward loss would follow... To hear that he lost was not a surprise, but to hear that he won the third set and pushed Robredo in the 4th (had set points to take it to a fifth) is massively encouraging.

He's beaten 2 good players, and pushed a third really hard. Incredible progress considering he's basically only taken his career seriously for the last few months.

If he maintains this, the top 50 is not beyond him. Lets hope he doesn't take his winnings straight to the birmingham nightlife! Brilliant stuff Dan, well done.

Sadly, Dan Evans run has come to an end. He lost in four sets but it is a measure of how far he has come that he will be gutted he hasn't reached the Fourth Round. Evans trailed Robredo 7-6 6-1 and he looked beaten but he bounced back to win the third set 6-4 and forged a break in the fourth set with the seeded Spaniard beginning to toil physically with a trainer giving him treatment. Evans served for the fourth set and had set points but inexperience shone through and the wounded Spaniard pegged him back and broke back and Evans looked deflated. Although he battled on his chance had gone and the revitalised Spaniard closed out the match.

Still it has been a great tournament for Evans and one that could propel his career to a new level. The ranking points he has gained will propel up to around 150 in the world but now it is back to the bread and butter of the challenger tour. It is up to Dan to build on this and work to break into the top 100 so that he can savour moments like these again. He has shown he has the talent and the game but now it is up to how he applies himself.

People in the know have always said its about how he applies himself, and not about ability... And I can see why. He has weapons and great movement. And that slice is a dream.

I just hope he keeps the workrate of the last few months going.

Really enjoyed watching Evans last night. Went to bed after he won the 3rd set, expecting Robredo to win the match despite Evans comeback. However, Evans looked good. He performed like a player who deserves to be in the top 50 in my opinion. If he keeps working on his game he could be the British no.2 and feature in consistent Grandslam tournaments. My main annoyance was his constant desire to play fast. If he had taken his time on his serve he might have done a bit better as he gave away some cheap points which Robredo took confidence from. Tactically during rallies however, I felt Evans was superior for most of the match.

Danny_1982 wrote:People in the know have always said its about how he applies himself, and not about ability... And I can see why. He has weapons and great movement. And that slice is a dream.

I just hope he keeps the workrate of the last few months going.

I definitely agree with that, loved his slice, very accurate at times.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Sadly, Dan Evans run has come to an end. He lost in four sets but it is a measure of how far he has come that he will be gutted he hasn't reached the Fourth Round. Evans trailed Robredo 7-6 6-1 and he looked beaten but he bounced back to win the third set 6-4 and forged a break in the fourth set with the seeded Spaniard beginning to toil physically with a trainer giving him treatment. Evans served for the fourth set and had set points but inexperience shone through and the wounded Spaniard pegged him back and broke back and Evans looked deflated. Although he battled on his chance had gone and the revitalised Spaniard closed out the match.

Still it has been a great tournament for Evans and one that could propel his career to a new level. The ranking points he has gained will propel up to around 150 in the world but now it is back to the bread and butter of the challenger tour. It is up to Dan to build on this and work to break into the top 100 so that he can savour moments like these again. He has shown he has the talent and the game but now it is up to how he applies himself.

Real shame he choked slightly at the end. He'd held himself together so well throughout the tournament up until then.

In terms of a return to the bread and butter, it's worth noting that his run over the last month or so means that the bread and butter is now Challengers. Beforehand, he was mainly only able to play futures as his ranking was too low even for Challengers. Now, this latest boost to his ranking will ensure that not only will he be able to enter any Challenger but he will usually be seeded. He may also be able to sneak direct entry to some weaker 250s, as well as being able to at least get into qualies for bigger events.

He needs to hold it together and continue working day to day. However, if he does so, his new ranking will give him benefits which will help him continue to climb the slippery pole to the top 100.

emancipator wrote:Frak disgraceful, pushniacki chokes away the second set. What a useless pusher.

I agree.  I saw her play aggressively once and it was a dream to watch but she's learned absolutely nothing from that.

Born Slippy wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Sadly, Dan Evans run has come to an end. He lost in four sets but it is a measure of how far he has come that he will be gutted he hasn't reached the Fourth Round. Evans trailed Robredo 7-6 6-1 and he looked beaten but he bounced back to win the third set 6-4 and forged a break in the fourth set with the seeded Spaniard beginning to toil physically with a trainer giving him treatment. Evans served for the fourth set and had set points but inexperience shone through and the wounded Spaniard pegged him back and broke back and Evans looked deflated. Although he battled on his chance had gone and the revitalised Spaniard closed out the match.

Still it has been a great tournament for Evans and one that could propel his career to a new level. The ranking points he has gained will propel up to around 150 in the world but now it is back to the bread and butter of the challenger tour. It is up to Dan to build on this and work to break into the top 100 so that he can savour moments like these again. He has shown he has the talent and the game but now it is up to how he applies himself.

Real shame he choked slightly at the end. He'd held himself together so well throughout the tournament up until then.

In terms of a return to the bread and butter, it's worth noting that his run over the last month or so means that the bread and butter is now Challengers. Beforehand, he was mainly only able to play futures as his ranking was too low even for Challengers. Now, this latest boost to his ranking will ensure that not only will he be able to enter any Challenger but he will usually be seeded. He may also be able to sneak direct entry to some weaker 250s, as well as being able to at least get into qualies for bigger events.

He needs to hold it together and continue working day to day. However, if he does so, his new ranking will give him benefits which will help him continue to climb the slippery pole to the top 100.

The thing is he has proven he can live with the top players and compete against them at a slam but now he must maintain that momentum and apply himself just as well on the lesser stages. It depends on him. Hopefully, he has so thoroughly enjoyed this experience it will strive him to work harder and further climb the rankings. However, any return to his bad old ways of clubbing instead of training then this US Open run will remain an isolated incident in his career. Best of luck to him and hopefully he can break into the top 100 and be a regular on the ATP circuit.

Everything going well for Roger Federer so far. He coasted through last night to the Fourth Round without expending too much energy. He'll meet Robredo next and that may not prove too difficult especially as the Spaniard looks to be carrying an injury into the match. In the quarters more than likely Nadal awaits. For Roger he must approach it as his final and who knows.

It really has been a tremendous run by Evans, not just in the main draw itself but in making it through the 3 qualis too.

Based on 5 Live reports on the beeb this morning, Evans himself was very pragmatic as regards the disappointment of not at least pushing Robredo into a decider. He had apparently said that he just happened to play a couple of his worst shots at the worst time but didn't seem inclined to berate himself in any way or dwell on "what might have been." Good attitude, positive reaction (although you still can't help wondering 'what if', especially given that Robredo had shown possible signs of cramping.......)

There is talk that some TD's of the autumn swing of main tour 250's would now be ready to offer WC's to Evans in light of his impressive showing in New York. This, after all, is a guy who was hovering around the mid-300's in the rankings just six months ago. Another rise up the ladder could get him direct entry into the Aussie Open.

Back to those who remain, and after watching Rafa's match against a feisty Dodig last night I'm struggling to see how he can be stopped on current form. I know he hasn't been challenged by any big boys yet but for me Rafa remains the biggest obstacle in week two and is even more of a clear favourite than when the tourney began.

Hopefully he will get a few good wild cards off the back of this to help him on his way.

Rafa won comfortably but he did have one or two wobbles almost like he began to doubt himself for an instant. Dodig had a couple of chances to break serve but just never played those points well enough. Impressive from Rafa all the same. Certainly the favourite for the title just now.

CC - wrt Federer last night, didn't see his match but came across a pundit view somewhere or other that the impressive scoreline concealed a surprising count of UE's and that his previous round performance was actually more solid.

Notwithstanding the mini spate of losses to low-ranked guys in recent months, I feel that Federer (even at his own new 'low rank' of seven ....... !!) is still too smart for most guys on the tour, and will continue to be for some time to come. But as time goes by I have serious doubts that he has the armoury to threaten the top three in the way he used to do.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Rafa won comfortably but he did have one or two wobbles almost like he began to doubt himself for an instant. Dodig had a couple of chances to break serve but just never played those points well enough. Impressive from Rafa all the same. Certainly the favourite for the title just now.

People often get BPs against Rafa, it's just much much harder to convert them than get them!

I'm a fairly casual tennis fan and I'm fine with that

ChequeredJersey wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Rafa won comfortably but he did have one or two wobbles almost like he began to doubt himself for an instant. Dodig had a couple of chances to break serve but just never played those points well enough. Impressive from Rafa all the same. Certainly the favourite for the title just now.

People often get BPs against Rafa, it's just much much harder to convert them than get them!

My point is that Dodig even got break points. Pity he invariably flung in unforced errors. That is why, I suppose, he is ranked where he is.

Nadal is in imperious form of that there is no doubt but when the door briefly opens against him you may only get the one chance to get some momentum in the match and you have to take it. If you do then who knows?

But winning "the big points" against players like Rafa and Murray and Novak is so much harder than winning a normal point. The stats back this up

ChequeredJersey wrote:But winning "the big points" against players like Rafa and Murray and Novak is so much harder than winning a normal point. The stats back this up

Yes I quite agree but if you are Federer, Djokovic or Murray they'd have faired better in that position I reckon. It is all about getting those chances and taking them and Roger will have to do that if they meet in the quarters and Murray or Djokovic (if they get there) will need to do it in the final.

Giorgi is my new Top5 lady