Brisbane/Doha/Hopman

Happy new year to all. They're at it again, as another season starts. Kyle E came thru a tight two-tiebreak match at Brisbane while Federer bt Dan Evans 3 and 4 in the Hopman Cup. By all accounts it was a good match for Rog who came to the net with some success.
Amused to see one report saying Djoko and Andy were on "a collision course" to meet at Doha. As they are going to be ranked one and two for many months we may see this headline quite a bit.
Andy has already chalked up nine weeks at the top and is bound to do three more weeks whatever happens. Of course, a good showing at Melbourne (or a poor show from Djoko) will secure top spot for some time.

sirfredperry wrote:Happy new year to all. They're at it again, as another season starts. Kyle E came thru a tight two-tiebreak match at Brisbane while Federer bt Dan Evans 3 and 4 in the Hopman Cup. By all accounts it was a good match for Rog who came to the net with some success.
  Amused to see one report saying Djoko and Andy were on "a collision course" to meet at Doha. As they are going to be ranked one and two for many months we may see this headline quite a bit.
  Andy has already chalked up nine weeks at the top and is bound to do three more weeks whatever happens. Of course, a good showing at Melbourne (or a poor show from Djoko) will secure top spot for some time.  

Yes Andy stands a good chance of passing Boris Becker's mark of 12 weeks at No 1.

For Federer it must be about match fitness and shaking off a lot of rust - the type of which he has never accumulated before in his career. Edmund could threaten to break into the top 32 (and be seeded for the Australian Open) if he has an excellent run in Brisbane.

Djoko obviously a little rusty in his first match at Doha as he was a double break down in the first set before recovering to win in straight sets.

Some good early new year matches and see Nadal has shook off Dolgo fairly easily in straights. He's looking useful (and much fitter IMO, he's been working out for sure in the off season) but inconsistency is his biggest nemesis these days - slams require 7 solid performances and not sure Rafa is quite there yet. Lets see.

9 weeks at the top but lets be fair nearly all of those are in the off season! If he holds on beyond AO - and particularly IW to Miami - then we can say he's actually defending it fully.

Irelevant though. The close season has always been there so every tennis player to reach No 1 have benefitted from not having to defend anything whilst mopping up weeks at No 1. Pretty sure Boris Becker himself held No 1 over the same period of the calendar as Andy has.

Well the new number one has won his opening match against Chardy in Doha. BBC are saying 25th win in a row, but I make it 26, even with those w/os at the end of the season.
Lydian - the great joy of being year-end numero uno is that there's nothing anyone can do to knock you off your perch during part November and December. Fed, for example, must have chalked up a good few can't-touch-me weeks during his 237-week consecutive run.

Precisely., Sir Fred. Rafa himself has probably added a few weeks at No 1 in the same way so unless we want to start asterisking everyone's weeks at No 1 for close season then it is all irrelevant.

I have defamed the BBC. Murray's run is, indeed, 25. I can't count.

Happy belated New Year everyone!  Tennis is finally back and everyone that is anyone is in action already.

Hopefully we finally have some new young slam winners this year.

lydian wrote:slams require 7 solid performances and not sure Rafa is quite there yet. Lets see.

 Not there yet?  I am hoping he will never be there again.  But who knows.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Irelevant though. The close season has always been there so every tennis player to reach No 1 have benefitted from not having to defend anything whilst mopping up weeks at No 1. Pretty sure Boris Becker himself held No 1 over the same period of the calendar as Andy has.

I agree it is irrelevant.  Also, many players hold YE #1 in a bit higher regard than a random week during the year, so in that sense Andy is already doing better than some.  Becker actually never held #1 during the off-season, for better or for worse.

Ah Becker took it after the Australian Open (so late January 91) and held it for nine weeks before losing the spot. He regained it for three weeks after Wimbledon later that year.

A good win for Kyle Edmund in Brisbane. He beat No 6 seed Lucas Pouille who retired with Edmund leading 6-4 3-1.

Murray racks up his 26th win on the bounce in beating the impressive Gerald Melzer 7-6 7-5. Djokovic also wins in straight sets in Doha against Zeballos.

Rafa Nadal's promising start to the season continues as he thrashes Michael Zverev 6-1 6-1 in Brisbane. Zverev's namesake (Alex) last night beat Roger Federer in three tight sets but Switzerland won the Hopman Cup tie allowing Federer more vital match practice.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray both win today to reach the semis of the Qatar Open. Djokovic will face Fernando Verdasco and Murray will play either Tomas Berdych or Jo Tsonga.

Milos Raonic beats Rafa Nadal in the semis of the Brisbane International in three tight sets. No disaster for Rafa as the tournament has afforded him a few matches to get some fitness, shake off the rust and pick up some handy ranking points.

Only Raonic's second win against Rafa in eight meetings. Interesting stat: Nadal has not beaten a top 10 player since April 2016.

sirfredperry wrote:Only Raonic's second win against Rafa in eight meetings. Interesting stat: Nadal has not beaten a top 10 player since April 2016.

Did he not beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semi in June?

I think you are confusing Raonic and Nadal there Craig!

So SF are:

Raonic v Dimitrov
Wawrinka v Nishikori

Murray v Berdych
Djokovic v Verdasco

Hopman Cup is USA v France/Switzerland (currently in a deciding mixed match).

Good start to the season from Murray. Solid as ever with flashes of occasional brilliance. Hopefully come the final (provided he makes it) we'll see him being slightly more aggressive, felt he was (at times) too passive against Almagro.
He also looks a lighter bit leaner to me than at the end of last season. Could be my imagination however, I wonder if he is focusing slightly more on endurance that muscle mass as he has previously close season.
Recently, he's been a bit more successful against Berdych than at the beginning of his career - the H2H has improved markedly over the past 18 months.

Born Slippy wrote:I think you are confusing Raonic and Nadal there Craig!
 

Doh of course. Only read first bit about Raonic and last bit about not beating a top ten player. My apologies Sir Fred.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Born Slippy wrote:I think you are confusing Raonic and Nadal there Craig!
 

Doh of course. Only read first bit about Raonic and last bit about not beating a top ten player. My apologies Sir Fred.

No probs. Am expecting a Murray-Djoko final in Doha. Although if Andy is going to lose it's better he loses here than early in Melbourne.

Verdasco serving for the first set against Djokovic, so we may not get the final we all want.

Semi Finals in Chennai are Danlil Medvedev v Dudi Sela and Paire v Bautista Agut/Youzhny.

Djokovic saves five match points and comes through to beat Verdasco in three sets. Cracking match.

Sounds like a massive bottle job from Verdasco. 6-2 up in the tie breaker...

Murray beats Berdych 6-3 6-4 to teach the Final of the Qatar Open where he will play Novak Djokovic. Andy has now won his last seven matches against Berdych and 16 consecutive sets.

Good win for Dimi over Raonic today. He'll play Nishi in final, after Japanese bt Stan. Have a feeling Djoko will beat Murray today.

Massive match in Doha today at 3pm for the Qatar Open Final between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Whoever wins goes to Melbourne as favourite for the Australian Open in my opinion. The world No 1 ranking is not up for grabs and Murray has actually extended his lead over Djokovic in Doha whatever the result today.

On another matter Dimitrov's win earlier today means he climbs into the top 16 seeds demoting Roger Federer to 17 but not sure if Australia adapt their seedings accordingly or stick rigidly to the rankings.

They stick to the rankings Craig.

Raonic in the slightly unusual position from next week of being number 3 in the world despite not winning a title in the last 12 months.

Born Slippy wrote:Raonic in the slightly unusual position from next week of being number 3 in the world despite not winning a title in the last 12 months.

I'd say that is testament to his consistency. The majority of the big tournaments were won by Djokovic and Murray (who were above him in the rankings anyway) and he was that bit more consistent than those just below him in the rankings such as Stan, Kei and the rest who had their odd moments of greatness but also had dips (unlike Milos) who was a consistent at the latter stages of most tournaments.

Born Slippy wrote:They stick to the rankings Craig.

Cheers. In that case then Roger could end up facing the big guns a round earlier in Melbourne.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Born Slippy wrote:They stick to the rankings Craig.

Cheers. In that case then Roger could end up facing the big guns a round earlier in Melbourne.

He still can't play one of the top 8 as the top seeds play seeds 25-32 in R3. The difference for Federer is that he will now play one of the 9-16 seeds (rather than 17-24). Which means a 1/8 chance of facing Rafa in the last 32...

Have to say, I don't think there has ever been a bigger match in week 1 of the season than the match today. It sets the tone in a massive way.

I sense Novak is fresh for the new season and he played brilliantly to turn his semi final around. I think he will edge it in two tight sets.

Born Slippy wrote:Have to say, I don't think there has ever been a bigger match in week 1 of the season than the match today. It sets the tone in a massive way.

I sense Novak is fresh for the new season and he played brilliantly to turn his semi final around. I think he will edge it in two tight sets.

It is tough to judge as to who needs the win most. For Novak it would be a huge step back to where he was in beating all that stand before him whilst a loss would still leave people doubting whether he is out of his rut yet. For Murray a win would further boost his moral and belief that he goes into matches against Novak without fear or worry and keeps the momentum running at full pelt going into the first slam of the year. A loss will throw in the seeds of doubt but whatever happens his No 1 spot is not in danger.

If Novak has his mojo back - he wins.

Dimitrov looks on his way back to the top 10 by the way. He played very well today to beat Raonic, albeit Raonic had a particularly bad serving and returning day. Still think Kei will win the final though.

emancipator wrote:If Novak has his mojo back - he wins.

Very handy. Or if Andy hasn't lost his mojo - he wins. Take your pick.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

emancipator wrote:If Novak has his mojo back - he wins.

Very handy. Or if Andy hasn't lost his mojo - he wins. Take your pick.

If both have their mojo - Novak wins

emancipator wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:

emancipator wrote:If Novak has his mojo back - he wins.

Very handy. Or if Andy hasn't lost his mojo - he wins. Take your pick.

If both have their mojo - Novak wins

That happened at the 02 though and Murray won. ;-)

I was hoping to watch Dimi vs Raonic last night but TennisTV did not have the feed. Good to see Dimitrov starting the year well.

Doha had a pretty old field this year, or so it seems.

summerblues wrote:I was hoping to watch Dimi vs Raonic last night but TennisTV did not have the feed.  Good to see Dimitrov starting the year well.

Doha had a pretty old field this year, or so it seems.

Novak and Andy were the two youngest QFs. Average age of the QFs was 32.

Yes, I noticed that too. But then I looked at the first round field and there were just not all that many youngsters there to start with. The whole field just felt much older than say Brisbane.

Every time I sit down to watch a Nole vs Andy match I am reminded within five minutes how dull I find their matches.  So I think this is it from me for today.  May the better man win.

Breathtaking tennis so far. Novak looking in top form. Murray not as sharp but still playing well.

One very poor game from Murray to drop serve from 40-15 and Novak looks untouchable on serve. Murray's record of breaking serve at least once in his last 115 odd matches looking under threat here.

This match

Point penalty for Novak now for his second code violation! If this is how the rest of the year will go, it's going to be some season!