2015 250-500 Tournaments Thread

[temporary21]

First topic message reminder :

A thread intended for discussion of the smaller tournaments of the year. First up, its Doha.

[TheMessi]

I am more of a snooker fan but I remember there was a poster called Barrystar here as well as 606.....isn't he posting anymore? He knew his tennis.

[Jahu]

Hey hey, no one cares for Nadal's hair, let's not turn the thread into a Hair Loss issue.

Btw, Nadal is loosing hair, lots of it

[It Must Be Love]

I will edit out the word "still"   but you are fibbing when you say you never said the word "never seen"  The quote I have in the above post is an exact copy and paste of your posting- unless you've now gone back and edited, that's what you said.  Below is your exact quote which has not been altered by me in any way.


"Thirdly I don't know if you've noticed but he has lots of hair on his head at the moment. I can give you pictures, but I've never seen his head with so much hair for a while."

Dear me Truffin, the phrase 'for a while' changes things slightly does it not ?
'Never seen' by itself means one thing' and then if you add 'for a while'- that totally changes the meaning of what I said.

This is what you said: -Amri says he's "never seen Nadal with this much hair on his head".-
You reported what I said, but missed out 'for a while'.. to give a totally misleading impression.

I also later said in that thread that Nadal had not lost 'that much hair'... again this implication is that at some point he had more hair than he had in January.

I don't like people quoting me and missing a few crucial words out to change the meaning anyway; but doing it across different forums so people can't even see what you've done is doubly annoying.

[TRuffin]

I will edit out the word "still"   but you are fibbing when you say you never said the word "never seen"  The quote I have in the above post is an exact copy and paste of your posting- unless you've now gone back and edited, that's what you said.  Below is your exact quote which has not been altered by me in any way.


"Thirdly I don't know if you've noticed but he has lots of hair on his head at the moment. I can give you pictures, but I've never seen his head with so much hair for a while."

Dear me Truffin, the phrase 'for a while' changes things slightly does it not ?
'Never seen' by itself means one thing' and then if you add 'for a while'- that totally changes the meaning of what I said.

This is what you said: -Amri says he's "never seen Nadal with this much hair on his head".-
You reported what I said, but missed out 'for a while'.. to give a totally misleading impression.

I also later said in that thread that Nadal had not lost 'that much hair'... again this implication is that at some point he had more hair than he had in January.

I don't like people quoting me and missing a few crucial words out to change the meaning anyway; but doing it across different forums so people can't even see what you've done is doubly annoying.

not really.... means same thing to me as I read it, but we know you see things different than most.

so you admit when you said you never said the words "never seen" that was untrue- you did say those words. why say you didn't?

anyway- I'm sure the mods don't want us arguing over words here- lets take it private if you feel the need to talk anymore. Mod's I apologize for the hijack.. just responding.

[It Must Be Love]

Trufiin, saying 'never seen' and 'never seen... for a while' have different meanings.
It's true I said the phrase 'never seen'; but if you selectively quote it and ignore half the sentence which changes the meaning of the sentence, then that's pretty unfair.

In future don't misquote me, and don't misquote me from another forum especially as this means people can't even verify the fact you're twisting what I'm saying by editing out half the sentence.

[socal1976]

I am more of a snooker fan but I remember there was a poster called Barrystar here as well as 606.....isn't he posting anymore? He knew his tennis.

Yeah Barry hasn't posted for awhile he was a very good poster. Cheers Barry wherever you are.

[socal1976]

Does anyone but a few teenage girls really care whether Nadal is balding or not? TRuffin, stop going at IMBL over this non-issue lets talk about really important things in tennis like Federer histrionics in post match interviews and his abuse of opposing players and their box by himself and Mirka.

[laverfan]

Even if Nadal was totally bald/shaved (a la Agassi), it would matter little. If the hair loss is intended to indicate something else, it is probably OT.

@IMBL... Nadal does not really need any defending per se (and you humanly cannot expect to do it), so just leave it alone.

[laverfan]

Does anyone but a few teenage girls really care whether Nadal is balding or not? TRuffin, stop going at IMBL over this non-issue lets talk about really important things in tennis like Federer histrionics in post match interviews and his abuse of opposing players and their  box by himself and Mirka.

Back into the trenches, are we?

[It Must Be Love]

Laverfan I was defending myself against misquotations, not Rafa.

[Jahu]

IMBL, cool it off, Rafa does not care for you

[It Must Be Love]

Reading not a strong point for you Jahu ?

[Jahu]

Reading is boring and time consuming, what easier then to write anything we like here?

Welcome to Internet

[break_in_the_fifth]

In future don't misquote me, and don't misquote me from another forum especially as this means people can't even verify the fact you're twisting what I'm saying by editing out half the sentence.

No one's trying to verify anything. No one cares. Get over yourself.

[It Must Be Love]

I can't quite remember every caring for your opinion on any issue BITF, I'll give you a shout if that situation changes.

But still BITF, this is your first post in around a month, surely if you were to do only one post a month on this tennis forum it would be something tennis related? You found nothing tennis related to say ?

[It Must Be Love]

HM might like this:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/03/9/By-The-Numbers-Novak-Costly-Slip.aspx

[HM Murdock]

HM might like this:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/03/9/By-The-Numbers-Novak-Costly-Slip.aspx

Just as I'm recovering from that service game, you come along a re-open the wound, IMBL!

It's not a surprise to see Federer so effective at recovering from 15/40 but I was more surprised to see Nishikori doing so well in this regard. He doesn't have an astonishing serve, so he's obviously backing it up very well.

Interesting also to note that Djokovic and Rafa have only been 15/40 down on 4 occasions this year.

The tennis stat I would love see is the number of times a player gets broken when serving for a set. It feels to me like Novak does it way more than average but it that may just be because I follow him more closely.

[Born Slippy]

Or being broken first game after winning a set or immediately after breaking. Murray loves those two tricks.

[laverfan]

...but I was more surprised to see Nishikori doing so well in this regard. He doesn't have an astonishing serve, so he's obviously backing it up very well.

With 40+ errors against someone like Ferrer, it was a very strange match, with WTA-like break-of-serves. I should not complain, because Ferrer won.

[HM Murdock]

...but I was more surprised to see Nishikori doing so well in this regard. He doesn't have an astonishing serve, so he's obviously backing it up very well.

With 40+ errors against someone like Ferrer, it was a very strange match, with WTA-like break-of-serves. I should not complain, because Ferrer won.

If I were to pick a combination of players from the ATP that is likely to produce a lot of breaks of serve, it would be Nishi and Ferrer.

Both shorter players with limited serves, both good returners, both good movers who can hang in long rallies.

I didn't realise you were partial to Ferrer though, LF!

[sirfredperry]

Interesting that the last couple of weekends have produced a spate of tournament victories for the 30-somethings. Wonder if we could see a record number of 30+ winners this year, particularly with Fed and Ferrer, seemingly, still going strong and Stan the Man due to turn 30 soon.
I think the number of over-30 winners in 2013 was the best for many years and 2014 would have been a lot better if more of the 30+ brigade had been able to win their title matches. Fed lost five finals, I think, and Karlovic four.

[Haddie-nuff]

Fili Lopez is having some success also just having moved up a couple of places in the rankings it seems there is life in the old dogs yet!!!!

[temporary21]

In future don't misquote me, and don't misquote me from another forum especially as this means people can't even verify the fact you're twisting what I'm saying by editing out half the sentence.

No one's trying to verify anything. No one cares. Get over yourself.

So... the f*** you all squealing at each other over now? Nadals hair? Thats relevant to this thread how?
Dont twist words and most importantly, dont twist them and derail the thread please, thats all of you involved btw.

[Jahu]

tempo21 can swear too? Nice

All others behave yourselves

[laverfan]

I didn't realise you were partial to Ferrer though, LF!

Nadal may be the more famous current Spaniard, but Ferrer is bulwark of the Spanish Armada. I think H-n is also a bit partial to Ferrer. I hope he wins a slam, before he calls it a day!

[LuvSports!]

I don't.

[HM Murdock]

Ferrer is bulwark of the Spanish Armada.

Sadly for him, he keeps encountering Drake, fireships and storms in the later stages of the big events.

[Haddie-nuff]

I agree LF I have the greatest admiration for the "little man" he is a gladiator and a gentleman He deserves a BIG win!!

[Haddie-nuff]

I agree LF I have the greatest admiration for the "little man" he is a gladiator and a gentleman He deserves a BIG win!!

[Calder106]

Aware that this is the 250/500 thread but just noticed that as a result of the Davis Cup weekend Murray has moved back up to 4 in the rankings.

[biugo]

Aware that this is the 250/500 thread but just noticed that as a result of the Davis Cup weekend Murray has moved back up to 4 in the rankings.

Interesting - how did that happen? Isn't LF the stat master here?
Currently:
Murray 5425
Nishi 5415

Both won both their DC matches (2*45pts). And both won both too last year. Could it be that Japan had already 3 victories before Nishi played his 2nd match?

However, next Monday, Andy will drop 90 pts and Kei 45 pts, swapping both positions again. Good timing for Andy who's taking #4 spot for 1 week only* just in time to avoid a nightmare QF! (*for longer if he does better than Nishi or takes 300 pts on Rafa)

a bit OT, but the coming Masters are very interesting ranking wise!
Taking off the US Masters pts we have:
Nadal: 5030
Nishi: 5010
Andy: 5155
Raonic: 4620
Ferrer: 4445
Stan: 4415

A lot could happen there; even Nadal is not safe and could be in the 5-8 seeds for Monte Carlo   (and just for the sake of it, Nadal could wish to not drop out of Top 5, he could be Federer in consecutive Top 5 weeks despite the injuries/ailments of both! 35 weeks to go)

[Mad for Chelsea]

I think you only get DC ranking points in live rubber matches...

[Calder106]

From digging around here is what I think happened. I may be wrong though.

At the beginning of last week Kei was on 5415 points and Andy on 5370.

Last years Davis Cup 1st round was played January 31st - February 2nd. So points for that had already gone. This left Andy with 65 DC points (Italy q/f 1 win) and Kei with none. Neither featured in their countable tournaments.

They both won their two matches this week gaining 80 points each. This put Andy's total DC points up to 145. Which in turn meant he could drop his Rotterdam points (90) from his countable tournaments. Giving him a net gain of 55 points. Kei couldn't do this.

Therefore points now Andy 5425 and Kei still on 5415.

[Belovedluckyboy]

By the time MC starts, it's the other top players who should be worried about Rafa being seeded 5-8, Rafa won't be that worried about meeting Fed or Murray or even Novak at the QF on clay. Furthermore, Rafa only has 180 points to defend at MC, Fed has 600 and Novak 360!

[biugo]

By the time MC starts, it's the other top players who should be worried about Rafa being seeded 5-8, Rafa won't be that worried about meeting Fed or Murray or even Novak at the QF on clay.  Furthermore, Rafa only has 180 points to defend at MC, Fed has 600 and Novak 360!

Indeed! I was not worrying for Rafa there (never worrying for him on Clay even if he doesn't perform) but for the nightmare draw that could happen! (imagine a Monfils facing Baghdatis R64, Stan R32, Rafa R16, Murray (or Ferrer) QF, Fed SF, Djoko F - to take a potent 17-32 player on Clay. Highly unlikely, but somehow I would like it )

[Belovedluckyboy]

Once Wimbledon is over, Rafa has practically no point to defend, so as long as he's playing well, he should be in the top four, and should end the year in the top four, I'm confident of that. Let's see how he does at IW/Miami, if he does well(ie at least reaching QF and above), then I think he should do well on clay, provided of course he has no physical issues. He wasn't doing well on clay last year, winning only one big title on clay before the FO, I think he winning more than one title before the FO will be a good indication that he's back to a good level on clay.

[banbrotam]

First time ever that I can remember Andy entering a clay court event without any of the top ten, never mind any of his three main rivals

First time for a clay court title?

Fognini, Bautista Augut and Monfils might disagree

[CaledonianCraig]

First time ever that I can remember Andy entering a clay court event without any of the top ten, never mind any of his three main rivals

First time for a clay court title?

Fognini, Bautista Augut and Monfils might disagree

And in the press it is being reported that Bjorkmann will be working with Andy throughout the summer and into the hard court season in the autumn.

[Jahu]

Istanbul for the first time too, Fed and Dimi top seeds.

[Jahu]

Fed beats Nieminen 6:2, 7:5, now standing at 15:0 for Fed, with only 1 set won from Nieminen from those 15 matches.

[Silver]

And he's a lefty, too. Jarrko needs to step up game!

Perhaps Fed can be the player that reaches 17 (or is it 18?) wins against one player without reply. Ferrer and Nieminen have targets on their backs

Be interesting to see how Dimi does against this field. He really should be making the final, surely.

[summerblues]

I have been very disappointed with Dimi after last year's Wimbledon. I thought he was doing quite well up until then - throughout the first few months of 2014 he had good results, with some very good play against the Big 4 too. In that Wimbledon match, after starting very nervously and being a set and a break down, I thought he was the better player in the rest of the match.

However, he has done nothing since then. Instead of building on his performances, he went flat. It is almost as if he thought he played as well as he possibly could at W, yet came up short, and that deflated him.

I am starting to be tempted to give up on him.

[Born Slippy]

I thought he played well in Oz. He came close to taking an on-form Murray to 5 sets. I suspect losing that match was probably more deflating than Wimbledon.

[CaledonianCraig]

Andy Murray in action in the BMW Open in Munich. Against Mischa Zverev he has taken the first set 6-2.

[Mad for Chelsea]

good performance from Murray, through 6-2 6-2, pleasingly aggressive on the big points. Obviously limited opposition, and he still looks like Bambi on ice on the dirt, but nonetheless an encourageing start to the clay season.

[CaledonianCraig]

Murray wins 6-2 6-2. Workman-like I would say - that is about it.

[summerblues]

BS, yes AO is another one that could have been deflating - quite similar to Wimby in that he was close to taking a Big 4 guy to five sets but ultimately he failed.

In any event, he has had few good results in 9+ months now. At best, that is another year wasted.

[summerblues]

I see Thiem defeated Fognini 3&0. Did anyone see the match? Was Thiem playing so well or was Fognini so poor?

[summerblues]

I am scoreboard-watching Fed's match. It looks like he is in general holding far more comfortably than Gimeno-Traver, yet the overall scoreline is quite tight.

Anyone watching the match? Does it feel close? How is the level of play?

[temporary21]

Dimi has definitely gone flat since the AO, hes gone quite passive, almost more interested in pretty, than effective shots. Hes got plenty of time though

A set all for Fed in Istanbul, a very tight match!

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