Autumn 2020 Tournaments and World Tour Final

First topic message reminder :

Thanks to everyone for a terrific response to the 2020 RG topic.

There's tournaments this week in St Petersburg and Cologne. In Russia, Cameron Norrie has recorded two excellent wins but Dan Evans went down to Stan the Man despite having three MPs.

Andy Murray had a disappointing 6-4, 6-4 loss to Verdasco (who obviously did hear the drums) in Cologne. He didn't serve very well and although he fought hard it was not a great display. They are playing again in Cologne next week and Andy is scheduled to appear again.

Six players have qualified for what will be the last London WTF - Djoko, Rafa, Thiem, Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Zverev. So just the two places remain. It's unclear just how much more Rafa will play this season. He sometimes skips the 02.

When novak starts like that, give him the cup

Tricky opener for Djokovic, has to be strange playing against someone you are friends with. Krajinovic is a good player, I think he has been near top 20 in the world and is around 30 now. Tough 1st round match and he clearly gave Novak a tough match. No harm getting a good work out.

I actually don’t think Novak will win this week. It’s such a high quality field and I could see someone like Thiem beating him.

Thiem looks poised to join Djoko in the second round. He's a set and a break up in his match against a guy ranked 529 who, at least, is giving him something of a match.

One guy who is out is Serb Kajovic, beaten in straights by Italian Sonego.

Dan Evans thru' after Bedene retired in the second set. Don't know what happened there.

Thiem who looked to be cruising has been broken serving for the match and it's 5-5 in the second set.

Thiem came thru 7-5 in that second set to take the match. Good effort by his opponent who was making his tour debut.

Bedene had a thigh injury which caused his retirement v Evans.

Garin beat Stan the Man in three and now plays Thiem who admitted he'd struggled against qualifier Sachko.

Salisbury/Ram and Murray/Skupski came through their first matches OK.

M and S haven't been doing that well of late. Jamie does like to change partners frequently so I wonder if another new pairing is likely.

After wins today for Medvedev and Tsitsipas in Vienna, Djoko takes the first set on a tiebreak against Coric after saving four set points.

Is it just me or does Djokovic have an unbelievable winning % in tie breakers for a player that doesn’t have a big serve??!! He seems to win so many of them, you would think the law of averages would suggest that a player without a big serve would be at a big disadvantage

Coric has a pretty good record against top players. He is 2-2 vs Nadal, 2-2 vs Murray, 2-4 vs Federer. Djokovic is the only one he hasn’t beaten yet with 0-3. Of course that could change today if he turns this around. He seems to have played very well in 1st set despite losing in tie breaker

Djoko came through 6-3 in second set while evergreen Anderson also won today.

Dan Evans has beaten wildcard Rodionov in straight sets and will now meet either Dimi or Tsitsi.

Thiem has a tough match later, taking on Garin, while the Rublev-Sinner match should be good.

Sinner had to retire early on giving Rublev a w/o. Thiem's just taken the first set 6-3 in his match.

Thiem won in straight sets while Dimi beat Tsitsi in three.

Good win by Dimitrov. He was 5-0 up in 1st set tie break and lost it but did well to keep his head up and fight back to win against Tsitsipas.

Looking like potential semi finals of Djokovic vs Dimitrov and Thiem vs Medvedev. They would be very good matches if they materialise.

Question mark over Dimitrov recovering now for tomorrow after that long gruelling match today

Anderson takes out Medvedev in straight sets

slashermcguirk wrote:Anderson takes out Medvedev in straight sets

Whatever injuries Anderson has/has had seem to have gone completely.

What do you make of Medvedev who had a terrific 2019 but has had a much rougher time of it this year?

Rublev takes out the defending champion, and hometown hero, Thiem in straight sets.

Medvedev seems to be going through a rough patch, last year he was on a roll and had a habit of coming through tight matches. All about confidence you would have to think.

Surprised to see Thiem fall to Rublev, maybe Thiem is a bit weary after his recent grand slam runs.

Rublev is having a good run and has done well to down Thiem.

The Medvedev thing, for me, is temperament as much as form. He does tend to throw his toys out of the pram if things are not going well.

As I write Djoko has made a horrible start against LL Sonego and is 4-0 down.

What a bizarre score line, is Novak injured?

I would say the tournament director and crowds hope Novak turns this around after big names, Thiem and Medvedev knocked out today

Ok question 1, who the heck is Sonego and 2) has a Djokovic look a like turned up today?

Maybe with the year end number one in the bag, he has checked out. Very odd

Well if there is to be a turnaround it will have to happen quick. Sonego, already a set up, has a double break in the second and is serving for 5-1.

My first reaction, too, was that maybe Djoko is injured, or unwell.

Even for Novak that is game over.

I hope for the sake of the crowd Novak didn’t tank that match. That score against an unknown player is pathetic. Maybe he checked out with the year end ranking in the bag. Credit to Sonego but that all seems a bit odd

Just the three games for Djoko. Must be his heaviest defeat for, ooh.....ages.

So, the top two seeds beaten this afternoon. A very useful 500 points beckons for someone.

Djokovic hit 7 winners and 25 unforced errors. That is about as bad as it gets, a club hacker would have better stats than that

So when was the last time an LL beat a world number one?

OK, the qualifying for this was brutal with guys who would normally be seeded in the main draw of a 500-pointer having to go through qualifying.

But, even so, it's a remarkable achievement by the Italian.

Imagine the unfortunate ones who bought tickets for the semi finals. Instead of potentially having Thiem vs Medvedev and Djokovic vs Dimitrov..........you could now end up with Sonego vs Evans and Anderson vs Rublev. You would be raging!!

Imagine the unfortunate ones who bought tickets for the semi finals. Instead of potentially having Thiem vs Medvedev and Djokovic vs Dimitrov..........you could now end up with Sonego vs Evans and Anderson vs Rublev. You would be raging!!

Putting Djokovic’s woes aside, it seems like the cards could be falling in Nadal’s favour to land those elusive titles in Bercy and London.

To me it seems as if Novak came to vienna to secure YE1, once he did it, he wanted to rest for Paris Bercy.

naxroy wrote:To me it seems as if Novak came to vienna to secure YE1, once he did it, he wanted to rest for Paris Bercy.

Djokovic isn’t playing Bercy

Imagine the unfortunate ones who bought tickets for the semi finals. Instead of potentially having Thiem vs Medvedev and Djokovic vs Dimitrov..........you could now end up with Sonego vs Evans and Anderson vs Rublev. You would be raging!!

Not a good look for Djokovic if this was a tank job. Does appear that he just played to sew up world number 1, which kind of adds to the feeling I get from him that more or less all he cares about now is breaking records as he so desperately wants to be known as the greatest of all time. I do find that attitude a bit off putting and to me there's more to greatness than pure numbers - can you imagine many other greats tanking a match like that, however relatively unimportant it is?

I think it may have just been a really bad day at the office. Djokovic has a phenomenal record with fighting back in match’s. Maybe he is just wrecked, he has hardly lost a match this year.

A very weak looking semi final line up now. I would say the tournament organisers were hoping for Djokovic vs Dimitrov and Thiem vs Medvedev and now they are getting Sonego vs Evans and Anderson vs Rublev. Very weak in comparison.

Dimitrov pretty much summed up in two days, how do you beat a player of Tsitsipas quality one day and then lose to Evans the next. He must be infuriating to coach.

Direct from Djoko suggests a tank to me: "I have done what I needed to do and why I came here. I am completely fine with today's result."

Rublev should be overwhelming favourite all things being equal. The Russian has 4 titles already in 2020, couple with second most wins behind Djokovic

Jeff Navarro wrote:

naxroy wrote:To me it seems as if Novak came to vienna to secure YE1, once he did it, he wanted to rest for Paris Bercy.

Djokovic isn’t playing Bercy

of course, my bad. For ATP finals

Andrey Rublev reaches fifth final of 2020 after Kevin Anderson retired when the Russian was leading 6-4 4-1

Dominic Thiem has withdrawn from Bercy with blisters being cited as the issue.

Lorenzo Sonego beat Daniel Evans 6-3 6-4 to reach final in Vienna. Lucky loser enjoying his time in Austria.

Really thought Evans had a good chance to make the final.

Rublev v Sonego is far from the title match expected in Vienna. Asking a lot of the Italian to repeat his heroics.

Another strong field for Paris this week, with six of the top 10 scheduled to appear, headed by Rafa.

Andrey Rublev wins Vienna Open beating Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-4. Fifth title of 2020 for the Russian. Outstanding week for Lorenzo just comes up short.

In Paris, Dan Evans lost today to Stan the Man. That brings Dan's season to an end but it's been a good one for the Brit.

Umbert beat Tsitsipas in a 3hr 16min match in which all the sets went to tiebreaks. The Greek had saved three MPs in the second set breaker.

In another upset, Goffin was beaten in straight sets by Gombos.

I smell big upset today

Rafael Nadal wins 1000th match on ATP Tour with 4-6 7-6 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez

naxroy wrote:I smell big upset today

well, first set loooked like it, but nadal reacted