2015 ATP World Tour Finals

[Kirijax]

Why do you think that Stan didn't want to be there? it doesn't make any sense :huh:

It didn't look like it to me. That second set was horrible. I'm saying it just looked that way. I'm sure he

wanted to be there and pick up that nice check!

Then we could say the same about Ferru who made 8 double faults in the first set :cover
At least Stand made 10 aces

And about a gazillion unforced errors. At least Ferruuuas always looked like he was trying.

 

[Carol]

Well, let's go to put it in this way. One thing is that Rafa has had a horrible year and another thing is that Stan can beat him every time. We can't forget that Rafa is 13-3 and that 3 by Stan has been when Rafa has played his worst. Today? the first set has killed Stan, he probably knew that he probably went to lose the second one too

 

[Carol]

Rafa analyzes the match

http://youtu.be/d2SR7-OYmK0

And this is the hot point by Rafa in the second set, Stan tried very hard to make the point but....:speechless:

http://youtu.be/Xn-jWfitkcQ

 

[El Dude]

Well, let's go to put it in this way. One thing is that Rafa has had a horrible year and another thing is that Stan can beat him every time. We can't forget that Rafa is 13-3 and that 3 by Stan has been when Rafa has played his worst. Today? the first set has killed Stan, he probably knew that he probably went to lose the second one too

Carol, you do realize, I hope, that you're part of the reason that Rafa fans get a bad rap for making excuses for their guy with the ongoing assumption that Rafa only loses when there are extenuating circumstances?

Rafa was not playing bad when Stan beat him at the 2014 AO. Yes, he got hurt, but Stan was beating him before then. Give Stan credit where it is due.

 

[Carol]

Well, let's go to put it in this way. One thing is that Rafa has had a horrible year and another thing is that Stan can beat him every time. We can't forget that Rafa is 13-3 and that 3 by Stan has been when Rafa has played his worst. Today? the first set has killed Stan, he probably knew that he probably went to lose the second one too

Carol, you do realize, I hope, that you're part of the reason that Rafa fans get a bad rap for making excuses for their guy with the ongoing assumption that Rafa only loses when there are extenuating circumstances?

Rafa was not playing bad when Stan beat him at the 2014 AO. Yes, he got hurt, but Stan was beating him before then. Give Stan credit where it is due.

Excuses? what excuses? like you say he got hurt, enough reason to lose a GS
I give credit to Stan, he has improved his game these last three years, he has beaten Novak, Federer
and Nadal but he is not into the BIG THREE and not even the 'FOURTH'
By the way I don't remember Stan has beaten Rafa before AO 2014 :huh:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

While Nadal is playing much better, today's outcome is more about Wawrinka's pathetic effort. Did he even want to be there today? I couldn't tell...
Wednesday's Muzza-Rafa match is hard to call. We get an improving Rafa vs. a Murray who has one foot in Belgium. If the going gets tough, I hope Andy does decide to mail it in and save his effort for the DC. The first set will be crucial for both. Saw on the ATP site that Andy is 60-0 this year when he wins the first set.

:eyepop

Why do you think that Stan didn't want to be there? it doesn't make any sense :huh:

It didn't look like it to me. That second set was horrible. I'm saying it just looked that way. I'm sure he wanted to be there and pick up that nice check!

Yep, It looked like Stan wanted to get out fast. While the other losers (Kei, Bird, Ferru) did not play well (as they could not), they surely looked like they wanted to be there trying to the level best they could.

 

[Riotbeard]

Well, let's go to put it in this way. One thing is that Rafa has had a horrible year and another thing is that Stan can beat him every time. We can't forget that Rafa is 13-3 and that 3 by Stan has been when Rafa has played his worst. Today? the first set has killed Stan, he probably knew that he probably went to lose the second one too

Carol, you do realize, I hope, that you're part of the reason that Rafa fans get a bad rap for making excuses for their guy with the ongoing assumption that Rafa only loses when there are extenuating circumstances?

Rafa was not playing bad when Stan beat him at the 2014 AO. Yes, he got hurt, but Stan was beating him before then. Give Stan credit where it is due.

Excuses? what excuses? like you say he got hurt, enough reason to lose a GS
I give credit to Stan, he has improved his game these last three years, he has beaten Novak, Federer
and Nadal but he is not into the BIG THREE and not even the 'FOURTH'
By the way I don't remember Stan has beaten Rafa before AO 2014 :huh:

Nothing against Rafa (seriously), but I can't wait till Novak smashes him again. Hopefully they meet at this tournament. I bet Andy will do it first.

 

[Mile]

Hope Djoker can enter 2016 with positive H-H to Fedal. If he meets both 3 times and win all he get 23-21 to Fed, and 23-23 against Nadal. From that on, Fedal will getiing into minus. Time to surpass them.

 

[Carol]

Carol, you do realize, I hope, that you're part of the reason that Rafa fans get a bad rap for making excuses for their guy with the ongoing assumption that Rafa only loses when there are extenuating circumstances?

Rafa was not playing bad when Stan beat him at the 2014 AO. Yes, he got hurt, but Stan was beating him before then. Give Stan credit where it is due.

Excuses? what excuses? like you say he got hurt, enough reason to lose a GS
I give credit to Stan, he has improved his game these last three years, he has beaten Novak, Federer
and Nadal but he is not into the BIG THREE and not even the 'FOURTH'
By the way I don't remember Stan has beaten Rafa before AO 2014 :huh:

Nothing against Rafa (seriously), but I can't wait till Novak smashes him again. Hopefully they meet at this tournament. I bet Andy will do it first.

Wow, nothing against him? I would say too much against him but I hope if not in this tournament then In the AO Rafa smashes your dear Novak , nothing against him (seriously)

 

[Kirijax]

Nishikori vs. Berdych starting in a bit. Nishikori leads the H2H 3-1, but he just doesn't seem right at the moment and Bedych, despite that loss to Federer seems to be playing better at the moment. Nishikori is already done with Djokovic so he still has a chance by getting through Berdych and then maybe pulling off the upset vs Federer. Not much chance of that at the moment but better than Berdych winning this one and then going on to upset Djokovic. Still, I'm not sure why but I think Berdych will take this one.

 

[Carol]

If Nishi would be playing well he would be a threat for everyone but he doesn't, we'll see this next match :huh:

 

[the AntiPusher]

Hope Djoker can enter 2016 with positive H-H to Fedal. If he meets both 3 times and win all he get 23-21 to Fed, and 23-23 against Nadal. From that on, Fedal will getiing into minus. Time to surpass them.

Leveling The H2H 3-5 Years ago when both players were in their prime , (really Fed was near the end of his own prime) would have been more impressive,IMO

 

[Mile]

Hope Djoker can enter 2016 with positive H-H to Fedal. If he meets both 3 times and win all he get 23-21 to Fed, and 23-23 against Nadal. From that on, Fedal will getiing into minus. Time to surpass them.

Leveling The H2H 3-5 Years ago when both players were in their prime , (really Fed was near the end of his own prime) would have been more impressive,IMO

Wrong. Djoker started Pro and fell right into prime time of Fed, after climbing on ATP list he then fell into Nadal prime also. We know how long he was No.3 spot. Djoker was passing that Golgota for long time, after what his Prime time came and still is.

If you wanna that to be 3-5 years ago, that would be before Djoker hit his peak. So, let them all cover their primes and then sum it up. Its was easier for veteran Fedal hitting the Begginer Dojker. Now is just other way around, they had first bracket, Djoker has closing bracket. Important is nobody skipped prime time of no one.

 

[the AntiPusher]

The Incline is still in effect: bigger test for Rafa on Wednesday...

Question I have for you my Brother(we all are brothers and sisters under our God).. What are your thoughts to what Jimmy Cou and Paul A stated yesterday about why did Rafa change his service grip(US Open). They both felt that it was a very effective that enhanced Rafa's ability to win free points on his serve. I know Rafa has stated that he wasn't comfortable with his serving percentage but it makes no sense to just have a serve to put in play while the other players are just waiting in the weeds to cash in on it. See this is where I say another added coaching voice would have convinced him that his philosophy is a bit flawed. Your thoughts.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Hope Djoker can enter 2016 with positive H-H to Fedal. If he meets both 3 times and win all he get 23-21 to Fed, and 23-23 against Nadal. From that on, Fedal will getiing into minus. Time to surpass them.

Leveling The H2H 3-5 Years ago when both players were in their prime , (really Fed was near the end of his own prime) would have been more impressive,IMO

Wrong. Djoker started Pro and fell right into prime time of Fed, after climbing on ATP list he then fell into Nadal prime also. We know how long he was No.3 spot. Djoker was passing that Golgota for long time, after what his Prime time came and still is.

If you wanna that to be 3-5 years ago, that would be before Djoker hit his peak. So, let them all cover their primes and then sum it up. Its was easier for veteran Fedal hitting the Begginer Dojker. Now is just other way around, they had first bracket, Djoker has closing bracket. Important is nobody skipped prime time of no one.

Taking nothing away from Novak, however You do realize that Djoker is only slightly more than a year younger than Rafa. Djoker made numerous grand slam and ATP series finals but didn't have the "fortitude" to win the matches. I think this is where Becker has helped the past two plus years. The thing that makes Rafa H2H is that he did it doing Fed's reign as well as the others. However, its not Djoker's fault that Rafa's game has regressed to the point that their matches this past year hasn't been competitive. Let's hope it changes so Djoker can really have his "greatness" truly tested.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htKe8A6scJ4[/video]

 

[isabelle]

Masters rocks, good tennis to cheer me up

 

[Kieran]

The Incline is still in effect: bigger test for Rafa on Wednesday...

Question I have for you my Brother(we all are brothers and sisters under our God).. What are your thoughts to what Jimmy Cou and Paul A stated yesterday about why did Rafa change his service grip(US Open). They both felt that it was a very effective that enhanced Rafa's ability to win free points on his serve. I know Rafa has stated that he wasn't comfortable with his serving percentage but it makes no sense to just have a serve to put in play while the other players are just waiting in the weeds to cash in on it. See this is where I say another added coaching voice would have convinced him that his philosophy is a bit flawed. Your thoughts.

I think from Rafa's perspective, he felt the bigger serve affected the rest of his game. He constructs points off the serve, but to take control of the rally in a specific way. With the wham-bam serve, it kinda threw the rest of this out of kilter and so he felt less comfortable with it. I think he should still carry it in his satchel because it gave him a lot of cheap points. I don't see where another coaching voice would change this because I'm sure he's fully aware of the arguments for it...

 

[El Dude]

Taking nothing away from Novak, however You do realize that Djoker is only slightly more than a year younger than Rafa. Djoker made numerous grand slam and ATP series finals but didn't have the "fortitude" to win the matches. I think this is where Becker has helped the past two plus years. The thing that makes Rafa H2H is that he did it doing Fed's reign as well as the others. However, its not Djoker's fault that Rafa's game has regressed to the point that their matches this past year hasn't been competitive. Let's hope it changes so Djoker can really have his "greatness" truly tested.

To your first sentence, while they are about a year apart, Novak didn't reach his best level (2011) until about three years after Rafa reached his peak (2008). Now both were elite players for a few years before those years, but in terms of attaining their peak level, the gap is about three years.

Just as Rafa reached his prime a couple years ahead of Novak's schedule, so too is it looking like Novak's prime will last a couple years longer than Rafa's.

And I think Novak's greatness was tested by Rafa. 2011 saw them both at the peak of their powers and Novak outplayed him by a good margin. Rafa surged back a couple years later, but it has all been Novak since. But regardless, their primes overlapped from 2011-13, during which Novak lead the H2H 10-6.

 

[Kieran]

So The Quarter-Master plays in an 8 man field and goes out first, almost as an act of stubborn consistency...