Monte Carlo Masters

The draw is out for the third Masters tournament of the year:
http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2016/410/mds.pdf

Quarter finals if the top 8 seeds make it through:
Djokovic - Ferrer
Federer - Tsonga
Wawrinka - Nadal
Berdych - Murray

Federer opens against Bellucci or Garcia Lopez then likely Bautista Agut to get to the quarters. Not too bad a test after 2 months off.

Nadal has a really tough draw - probably R2 Rosol, R3 Thiem, QF Wawrinka (or Simon/Dimitrov), SF Murray (or Berdych/Raonic). If he can make it through that lot to the final, perhaps he will have the form to beat Djokovic there.

I dont think Rafa will ever beat Novak again.

Ah, European spring clay court season is here. Cannot wait for it to start. In some ways my favorite part of the calendar.

Difficult draw for Rafa, easy for Andy. Fed and Novak have reasonable ones, with Novak's draw looking a little trickier - but what does he care?

Rublev v Zverev first round should be interesting.

LuvSports! wrote:I dont think Rafa will ever beat Novak again.

Well he is not alone there at any rate

Born Slippy wrote:Rublev v Zverev first round should be interesting.

I hear a lot about Rublev (though I have not seen him play yet). But his results have been somewhat underwhelming. Based on that I would think Zverev should easily beat him. He seems to be a couple of levels ahead of Rublev at this point.

I like Novak's chances, and don't really think about draws that much post 2015.

While it's likely, and expected, that Djoko will capture another title at MC, at least it will be good to see all the top guys back in action. With Rafa out of sorts, Murray understandably jaded after Melbourne/Davis Cup heroics and Fed out injured, it's all felt a bit weird in recent weeks.
Am still stubbornly thinking that Djoko won't win the CYGS this year and that the French will prove his stumbling block.

Seems Rafa and Stan are in the same quarter at every tournament. Be interesting to see if Thiem can beat Rafa again, at a big tournament this time.

Gasquet v Almagro looks like a nice match today.

As SB anticipated, Zverev beat Rublev easily.

Herbert beat Pella which is something of a surprise. I actually though Pella might beat Murray here.

Never seen Pella play still. Damn it forgot to set my DVR should have downloaded the App that would let me run it all from my ipad.

Fed has just won his first match back - in straight sets. Murray was made to struggle but beat Herbert in three sets.
Next milestone for Rog is taking second place to Connors in the most tour wins, pushing Lendl into third place.
Gosh, with Murray and Fed both winning it seems like a return to tennis normality after a long winter.

Fognini with a match that'll have them checking for gambling patterns...

Anyone see the Fed match? How did he look?

Fed looked very good. Moved very well, backhand solid. Better than I thought after so long out. Thought he'd be more rusty.

Federer looked very sharp and fresh. Prior to the match the commentator said he underwent an arthroscopic operation on his knee - according to my doctor (when I tore my meniscus) he said such surgery increases the chances of arthritis of the knee later in life. Hope he avoids that. Impressive win for him.

Murray put in another performance of high moments and low moments and is still striving for fluency and consistency in many parts of his game. Hopefully, he can play himself into a bit of form here and build confidence but to do that he has to at least reach the quarters.

I don't know why I'm surprised what Federer does anymore but how well he played did surprise me, just effortless. Will really miss him when he's gone.

Nah, not effortless. He, like the other big four guys, is much quicker than the rest of the field, bar a Monfils. Its only playing against the big four guys that would make him sweat or make him look laborious.

The way he plays is.

Berdych loses to Dzumhur...
Hopefully this is the start of his slide. Lost a good 500+ points there from making the final last year.

LuvSports! wrote:Berdych loses to Dzumhur...
Hopefully this is the start of his slide. Lost a good 500+ points there from making the final last year.

I've been calling it - this year Berdych and Ferrer will drop out of the top ten.

Ditto and hope so.

Vesely is a break up in the third! Go go go!

Wow. Massive upset. Vesely beats Djokovic in three sets.

Yes sit down and shut up Djokovic!

Well there's a surprise. A modicum of vulnerability for once. The others will be sniffing a title now!

CaledonianCraig wrote:Wow. Massive upset. Vesely beats Djokovic in three sets.

Yes, big shock. Can't remember when Djoko went out this early in a big tourney. Keeping his powder dry for RG, perhaps ? He's had an awful lot of tennis recently and few will remember this defeat if he goes on to win the French. Still, this may persuade the rest that he IS beatable.

Apparently it was 2013 the last time he went out so early in a Masters 1000 tournament.

He lost in r3 in Canada & cincy masters in '14 but yes crazy success at TMS1000 level.

I'm sure Socal will have an explanation
In the meantime I make no apologies......

I'd love to have the final as Andy and Roger as it would be their first dirt meeting. The way Andy's playing, this ain't gonna happen!!

sirfredperry wrote:Still, this may persuade the rest that he IS beatable.
   

Which actually is very important. Let's be honest all the players including his illustrious peers were starting to feel beaten before getting to the court

I wouldn't put money on it making too much of a difference in Madrid. Its his first bad result in about 2 years
If FED/RAFA/ANDY can notch up a masters win it would be a needed boost though

I sense a Fedal clay final. They always go so well......

I think Thiem might win this tournament if he gets past Rafa

Best thing that could happen to him frankly. A player needs to lose and play badly now and again. He gets a weeks rest at home and has his sense of complacency shattered. Honestly if he is playing well going into the French is all I care about. I mean he does have more masters at 28 than any player to ever play the game so the fact he loses early is of no concern, it's not like he is in a points race. When you are beating top players in third gear , I think is not the best prep for a slam. A player comes back more focused and hungrier after a loss. So glad it happened in the first match. Great loss by Novak

Haddie-nuff wrote:I'm sure Socal will have an explanation
In the meantime I make no apologies......

Really, to quote bb, how old are you?

Do you know what I don't give a damn who wins.. honestly I am delighted that someone had the wherewithal to beat him...at last albeit it had to happen.. probably complacency was his biggest enemy great stuff

socal1976 wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:I'm sure Socal will have an explanation
In the meantime I make no apologies......

Really, to quote bb, how old are you?

Obviously somewhat older than you... you can gloat on the winnings... totally a new ball game for you isn't it cant accept the loss,
The response I was expecting socal you do not disappoint

Sure, no point killing himself for more Masters events when what he really needs now are all the rest and freshness he can get before entering RG'16. A calculated loss I suppose, or more bluntly, a nice tank job!

CAS wrote:I think Thiem might win this tournament if he gets past Rafa

I was just thinking the reverse may be more true.

Physical-wise then it is a good loss to take as he can use the time to recharge his batteries. However, mentally any loss is not good. It installs seeds of doubt and kills a bit of momentum.

Matchpoint wrote:Sure, no point killing himself for more Masters events when what he really needs now are all the rest and freshness he can get before entering RG'16. A calculated loss I suppose, or more bluntly, a nice tank job!

Nah, not a tank job. Why should he tank here and then going to play at Madrid? Might as well skip Madrid which he has been doing for the past two years? He lost 990 points here and there's no guarantee that he's going to win at Madrid or have enough matches on clay in preparation for the FO.

Why would he tank to a player who is only ranked 55. It beggars belief..did he lose or did Vesely win???
I never saw the match so would not presume to comment. But I would like to know what tactics Vesely used to beat him

Looked a bit tired. A lot of short and "windmill" like follow throughs. Just a dodgy match. No need to be excited, or worried just yet

Ive just watched the highlights on You Tube and frankly I don't agree.. he found the way to take his game to Novak.. he would not let Novak settle into his normal rhythm and it was a  touch of the Dolgopolov tactics he kept mixing it up... I am more inclined to think that Vesely won that match rather than Novak losing it.. yes Novak made errors but only because he was under pressure.
Good win by Vesely all credit to him

Haddie-nuff wrote:Why would he tank to a player who is only ranked 55. It beggars belief..did he lose or did Vesely win???
I never saw the match so would not presume to comment. But I would like to know what tactics Vesely used to beat him

I agree. I don't see it being a tank at all. A loss just breaks momentum and in any case why prolong the match for over 2 hours before going down. I can't see it myself.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:Why would he tank to a player who is only ranked 55. It beggars belief..did he lose or did Vesely win???
I never saw the match so would not presume to comment. But I would like to know what tactics Vesely used to beat him

I agree. I don't see it being a tank at all. A loss just breaks momentum and in any case why prolong the match for over 2 hours before going down. I can't see it myself.

Well there has to be some excuse doesn't there... Vesley found the chink in the proverbial armour.. they found Rafa's !!!! this match will be watched over and over by all the players on tour from here on in.. Vesley my hero of the hour maybe the saviour of tennis

Be in no doubt vesely was good for the win. I just don't think there was any tactical weakness he found, just a good performance on a off kilter player