2014 Rogers Cup Final: Federer v. Tsonga

[DarthFed]

Eh, Roger wasn't the average 25 year old, so why would he be the average 33 year old. Those who expected him to be bad at this age were not seeing things clearly. 2013 was the outlier...

Yeah I agree, however, you forget one thing, he is still bound to have bad days in the office. You already forgot the Nishikori and Chardy loses. Today was one of those. Losing to an outstanding JWT is not as bad as those I just mentioned. At his age, inconsistency is to be expected.
That said, he is way above the average 33 year old.

Without seeing the above I posted something similar on the other thread. It is the main problem but as I pointed out Roger needs to do a better job in the finals. That's where you would expect to see him really bring great tennis and fight well. He has had a few howlers in finals this year now. There is no version of JWT that Roger shouldn't beat regardless of surface IMO.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

An interesting stat from today's final.

Both guys served an equal number of games.

However, of the total 170 points played today, 100 were on Fed's serve
and only 70 were on Tsonga's serve.

This clearly shows how much of a difficult time Fed had in holding serves today.

 

[Moxie]

Since the start of 2005, we've had

Paris 2005 - Berdych
Hamburg 2006 - Robredo
Cincinnati 2006 - Roddick
Paris 2006 - Davydenko
Madrid 2007 - Nalbandian
Paris 2007 - Nalbandian
Miami 2008 - Davydenko
Paris 2008 - Tsonga
Shanghai 2009 - Davydenko
Indian Wells 2010 - Ljubicic
Miami 2010 - Roddick
Paris 2010 - Soderling
Paris 2012 - Ferrer
Monte Carlo 2014 - Wawrinka
Toronto 2014 - Tsonga

Lists on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_World_Tour_Masters_1000#Singles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_Masters_Series#Singles

So that's 15 out of 87 tournaments that have not been won by the Big Four since 2005. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray have won ~83% of these tournaments between them in that time frame.

Break down:
Nadal - 31%
Federer - 20%
Djokovic - 22%
Murray - 10%
Rest - 17%

To the nearest %

Aw, thanks for doing that for me. :hug

No surprise that Paris has been the most up for grabs.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There are 10 guys in the list of non-big-four Master's winners. Of them Stan and Roddick
have a GS and so is not eligible to be a SHEEP. The other 8 don't and so are eligible to
run for SHEEP Award. Among them, Davydenko stands out as a SHEEP Contender as
he has 3 Master's Trophies (and a WTF too).

For the uninitiated, SHEEP is a poor man's version of GOAT and stands for
Slamless Heroic Everlasting Excellent Player

 

[Fiero425]

There are 10 guys in the list of non-big-four Master's winners. Of them Stan has a GS
and so is not eligible to be a SHEEP. The other 9 don't and so are eligible to run for
SHEEP Award. Among them, Davydenko stands out as a SHEEP Contender as he has
3 Master's Trophies (and a WTF too).

For the uninitiated, SHEEP is a poor man's version of GOAT and stands for
Slamless Heroic Everlasting Excellent Player

I instantly thought of Nalbandian since he's one of many who take Paris and he beat Federer in 5 to take a WTF! I still can't believe he gave Cilic that Queen's Club championship a few years ago by assaulting a linesman with a tirade while in the lead! What an idiot! Normally top echelon are burned out by the fall and odd players take those later Masters! Surprising that Nole only seems to get stronger around that time of the year; almost ruling time after USO each season! :clap :angel:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

 

[Front242]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

 

[Fiero425]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

That'll last only if Nadal retires now! :snigger :laydownlaughing :angel:

 

[Front242]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

That'll last only if Nadal retires now! :snigger :laydownlaughing :angel:

I'd say Guccione may last. Never see him playing much these days but Kyrgios will meet him again for sure. Not sure what's up with Kyrgios. He lost the first set of his Cincy qualifier 6-1, was 2-2 in the 2nd and it was cancelled so I'm not sure if he's injured. Hopefully not.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

Oh, this happened once before. I forgot to say explicitly with at least 5 matches
played between them to have reasonable sample size.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

That'll last only if Nadal retires now! :snigger :laydownlaughing :angel:

I'd say Guccione may last. Never see him playing much these days but Kyrgios will meet him again for sure. Not sure what's up with Kyrgios. He lost the first set of his Cincy qualifier 6-1, was 2-2 in the 2nd and it was cancelled so I'm not sure if he's injured. Hopefully not.

Yes, he is injured. He says he has some bone stress issue in the arms. But, instead of
simply making the other guy the winner, they replaced Kyrgios with another guy and
replayed the whole match, I think. I don't even know whether it is within rules to do so.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

We also had a thread on sheep before; but I think we forgot to recognize Davy then
and simply gave the award to Nalby.

 

[Front242]

While both Nalby and Davy has a WTF, Davy has three Masters cups in contrast to
mere 2 by Nalby. Also, both of Nalby's Masters were won after USO, when many
players are tired. But, Davy has a Miami won. Further, Davy is the only active
player with a winning record against Nadal, I suppose.

So, I say give the Modern SHEEP to Davy. I will worry about the SHEEP contenders
from yesteryears some other time.

Well there's Nick Kyrgios and Chris Guccione for now too off the top of my head.

That'll last only if Nadal retires now! :snigger :laydownlaughing :angel:

I'd say Guccione may last. Never see him playing much these days but Kyrgios will meet him again for sure. Not sure what's up with Kyrgios. He lost the first set of his Cincy qualifier 6-1, was 2-2 in the 2nd and it was cancelled so I'm not sure if he's injured. Hopefully not.

Yes, he is injured. He says he has some bone stress issue in the arms. But, instead of
simply making the other guy the winner, they replaced Kyrgios with another guy and
replayed the whole match, I think. I don't even know whether it is within rules to do so.

Cheers for the update on Kyrgios and that sucks. I noticed against Murray he had black tape on his forearm tattoo so maybe that was it? Was wondering why just that portion of his arm was taped. Seems dodgy alright that the other guy didn't get declared the winner there. I presumed Kyrgios was indeed injured but there was no tick next to his opponent to show a win. Seems completely unfair to make him play another match.

Actually his tattoo is on his right arm so not sure that was it since he's claiming bone stress in his left arm. Dunno why the tattoo on the right arm was taped so. Maybe it's like in certain night clubs where they won't let you in if you have tattoos everywhere Says he plans to play the US Open anyway.

 

[TsarMatt]

Well done, Tsonga. Shame - I missed the match, but I'm happy he won.

Defeating Djokovic, Murray and Federer to win any title is impressive.

 

[Front242]

It would've been more impressive if they were all playing well but impressive all the same. Not in the league of Nalbandian 2007 though when he beat all the top guys when they were playing very high level tennis.

 

[TsarMatt]

It would've been more impressive if they were all playing well but impressive all the same. Not in the league of Nalbandian 2007 though when he beat all the top guys when they were playing very high level tennis.

True, what Nalbandian did there was very impressive.

Man, I miss him. Such a fun player to watch. I would have loved to see him have a GS in his pocket.

 

[Front242]

^ Likewise, yup. Very much missed on tour by many.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Well there ends my confidence in Roger doing anything at USO. Another tailor made tournament gone awry.

At least your guy is playing , my spanish bull is still on the fence, which makes me feel very unsure about him playing let alone competing at a high level to win the USO.

 

[Front242]

He'll be playing nobodies first few rounds which is actually almost as much practice as some of those playing Cincy and Toronto will have going in. Think of it this way, a player who say lost in straight sets in the first round of Toronto and 2nd at Cincy will have played 6 sets. Since the US Open is best of 5, Nadal will have 9 sets practice minimum and potentially more for the same number of matches.

 

[Moxie]

He'll be playing nobodies first few rounds which is actually almost as much practice as some of those playing Cincy and Toronto will have going in. Think of it this way, a player who say lost in straight sets in the first round of Toronto and 2nd at Cincy will have played 6 sets. Since the US Open is best of 5, Nadal will have 9 sets practice minimum and potentially more for the same number of matches.

That's a good way to think of it. I do believe he can play himself into the tournament. I hope he's fit for it.