Autumn 2021 Tournaments

First topic message reminder :

After what could be described as a sensational USO, we move into the autumn tournaments that will round off the 2021 season.

The big tournament coming up is Indian Wells which has been moved from its usual March spot to early October.

But there are tourneys before then, including Metz in France where this week Andy Murray takes on Humbert. Andy really needs some wins but at least he's playing and seems injury free.

The lady of the hour, Emma R, may play IW although her schedule is still uncertain. The Romanians are trying to get her over for a tournament in Bucharest, too.

We have two new GS champs, which is something that has happened for a while. It's possible we could have a new men's number one, as well, in the months to come.

slashermcguirk wrote:Djokovic didn’t hang about this evening!! 6-2 6-1 vs Norrie in 66 mins. I thought he might struggle for motivation having already won the group, clearly not

Certainly thought Norrie would get more than three games. Djoko has now actually GAINED points in this tournament. I think the number one spot will eventually change hands in 2022. But if Djoko can win this WTF thingy then he can stay at the top for a while longer.

Meanwhile, the Aussie tennis guys have made it clear that players WILL have to be jabbed to take part in the AO. Despite Djoko's seeming anti-vac stance, I think he'll play.

Medvedev outclassed Ruud 6-4 6-2 and remains on course to defend his title.

Thought Med would be too much for Ruud but that was even easier, at least score-wise, than I envisaged.

Medvedev now has defended 1,000pts of the 1,500 he won at the O2 last year. He also has 1,200 to defend at the AO.

Djoko can, of course, gain a hatful of points if he can beat Zverev today and Medvedev tomorrow. But after that it will get a lot harder for Novak.

Wanted to put in a mention for Joe Salisbury who's reached the ATP doubles final with Rajeev Ram, beating top seeds Mektic and Pavic in a tight 3 setter having won all their group matches.

I don't think Salisbury quite gets the recognition he deserves - he's the first British player to reach ATP doubles final and has won 2 slam titles this year. At 29 he also potentially has lots of good years ahead.

In the singles Ruud has had a good tournament and confounded his critics. He is portrayed a bit as a clay court specialist who's risen up the rankings from playing smaller tournaments. However, beating Rublev indoors and reaching the semi finals is v creditable. That said, he probably felt out of his depth against Medvedev today on this surface.

From this point on its difficult to call this tournament with all 3 remaining players standing a chance - I'm still going for my Medvedev prediction though.

Yes, Salisbury is having a terrific time.

Still going for Djoko who now has to do what he did in New York - beat Zverev and Medvedev back-to-back.

Zverev takes the first set against Djokovic on the tie break. Djokovic had a set point, on Zverev’s serve, in the 12th game but he couldn’t convert.

Djokovic levels up by taking the second set 6-4

Zverev beats Djokovic 7-6 4-6 6-3 to setup showdown with defending champion Medvedev.

A couple of interesting subplots for the final:
Zverev tour leading most titles in 2021: 5 - tied with Djokovic and Ruud. Obviously Zverev win takes him top of the pile with 6 titles.
Zverev 5-0 in finals in 2021
Medvedev looking for 5th title of 2021
Medvedev 9-0 run at the tour finals
Medvedev looking to defend a title for the first time
Medvedev has won last 5 matches against Zverev

Well done to Zverev, he played superb throughout. It was a good quality match, just one awful service game by Novak in final set decided it. Zverev deserved it and regardless a phenomenal year for Djokovic.

By all accounts it was a very fine match. Wonder what Zverev has left for the final.

I recall Djoko having an easy passage to the final at the 02 in 2016 while Murray had a marathon semi with Raonic. Yet Andy then beat Novak in straight sets in the final. So you never can tell.

Probably fitting that the top three in the rankings went deep in this tournament. They've all excellent seasons.

A win today for Zverev could mean that he rather than Medvedev could eventually be the first non-Big Four player to take over at number one for 18 years.

Turin’s début as the new host - after so many years in London - has been marked by a high-quality tournament. Some very impressive play.

Not sure how long the ATP will keep it here (presumably three years minimum …..??) but it does seem to have ‘settled’ well. I enjoyed a few 02 London visits over the years, but could very possibly be tempted to get across for a tennis + Italian foodie treats combo trip …….. once travel is back to normal

During the past couple of decades, the WTF have been dominated by Federer (six titles) and Djokovic (five). But interesting to note that neither has managed to add to their respective tallies since 2015. We’ve been seeing a lot more variety, with five different winners so far - although we clearly cannot have a ‘first-time’ Champion today.

2016 Murray
2017 Dimitrov
2018 Zverev
2019 Tsitsipas
2020 Medvedev

2021 ………..  

Murray, Dimi and Tsitsi, the winners from 2016-18, all had poor years afterwards. But the last two winners, particularly Medvedev, seem to have lifted the so-called Curse of the 02 by going on to do well over the next 12 months.

Tend to think that the reason why Djoko and Rog (Rafa has not always played) have not won it recently is that they were whacked out after long seasons.

Djoko still being tight-lipped about appearing in Melbourne. Still think he'll show, though.

Zverev wins the ATP tour finals 6-4 6-4 over Medvedev. Second title at the year end championships for Zverev.
Zverev played on the front foot and Medvedev didn’t really adapt at all.

I think Turin was excellent, much nicer looking venue than the O2. I went to the London tournament and I wasnt mad about it. The Turin venue looks better to me, feels like the crowd are closer to the court and the court is much quicker. I am glad to see it moved to Italy and would love to head over.

Well played to Zverev, really impressive playing over the weekend. I also think it makes for a better 2022 that he won this, it means Djokovic, Medvedev and Zverev are a capable of beating each other. Zverev now needs to deliver against these guys at the grand slams

Terrific effort by Zverev to beat the number one and number two on successive days.

He's only 24 although it seems as if he's been around for a long time. Feel sure a first Slam is not far away - and probably a few more after that.

Davis Cup in its new format has been going on in three different venues.

GB have reached the quarter finals and will face a Zverev-less Germany in what is a winnable tie.

However, this being DC when everybody fights like mad, there have been some surprise results so nothing can be taken for granted.

I watched Emma R's exhibition match on the BBC I-player. OK, it was only hit-and-giggle tennis but Emma does look the real deal. She has a big serve and good ground strokes and moves well.

Afterwards, she said her goal for 2022 was to keep improving and build her fitness. It will be her first full year on the tour and she will learn something from every match - win or lose.

I cant see past Russia or Italy for the Davis Cup. On paper certainly they look the strongest teams. Ideally you need two strong singles players and I think they are the only two teams that have two.

Good for Zverev for seeing through the fact that this is the Davis Cup in name only.   I think the US Open 2021 was more of an indicator that Raducanu is the real deal rather than some exhibition match.  The question regarding Raducanu is can she do it on a cold windy night in Stoke?

Just as I say it, Italy crash out of Davis cup. I have probably jinxed Russia now too

GB also crashed out after being in winning positions in some of the ultimately-lost sets v Germany.

In the meantime, Jo Konta has announced her retirement. Looking back she and most observers may well consider she had a pretty good career.

If you reach Slam semis and get yourself up to number four in the world then you've done well.

No doubt a second career as a commentator/pundit awaits.

I assume with Konta it was really the injuries and perpetual rehab that made her quit now, as it did seem to be a bit of a bolt from the blue.

Very decent career, although a bit of a feeling that she could have picked up a major title somewhere along the way, given that every woman and her dog on the WTA have won at least one slam in the last several years. Certainly Konta's game was as good as some of the slam winners, and she showed more consistency than many, but didn't quite make it to the very top. Not quite a Henman level of very good career but better than Rusedski, but still achieved quite a lot and made a very good living.

A very good career but also a frustrating one, she should have at least made a couple of finals. She seemed to produce a top drawer performance against one of the favourites and follow it up with a meek surrender to a lower ranked player, she should not have been losing to Venus Williams in 2017 or Vondroušová at the French in 2019 for instance.

I found Konta very dull to watch. She made the best of what she had, she was never going to be a 'Great' player but she probably maxed out based on the talent she had. Thats all you can really ask of a player but her style of tennis was just not my cup of tea.

On a separate note, Djokovic was incredible yesterday bringing Serbia into the Semi finals of Davis Cup. I cant get over how much his volleying has improved, he looks so good at the net and is making so few errors there. He looked like a seasoned doubles player on court and his return of serve was ridiculously good. The doubles pairing for Kazakhstan did very little wrong, they played some really good tennis but they looked stunned by the returns that were coming at them from Djokovic.

Its pretty impressive for any player to step up when your country is 1-0 down, you have to win your singles to stay in it and you crush your opponent and then about 20 minutes later straight onto the court to play decisive doubles.

They face Croatia next which will be tricky. I think ultimately Russia will prevail for the title, they have so many quality players to choose from whereas the likes of Serbia are too reliant on players like Djokovic