2017 Wimbledon Championships - Men

[Moxie]

This is the schedule for Monday. Happy Sunday, everyone!

 

[Moxie]

"Manic Monday" coming up.

Murray v. Paire
Dimitrov v. Fed
Mannarino v. Djokovic
Nadal v. Muller
Raonic v. A. Zverev
Thiem v. Berdy

Joker should have the easiest pass into the next round. Murray's next, in theory, if he's fit. Muller is the bridesmaid-in-waiting upset, but probably won't take Nadal. The popcorn match is Dimitrov v. Federer, but I don't see how Roger-lite wins on grass, especially. The other two could go either way, IMO. Youth v. Experience. I'm going Youth.

 

[britbox]

I hope I'm wrong but my gut is that Raonic takes Sascha this time around.

 

[Moxie]

I hope I'm wrong but my gut is that Raonic takes Sascha this time around.

That's the boring choice, but I hear you. Roanic does look pretty crisp. However, given that the courts are playing so crap and slow, B-) , and that Sasha seems to be improving by leaps and bounds, he may take down the helmet-headed Canadian.

 

[britbox]

Ubaldo and Steve Flink talk through Day 6 and look forward to Week 2. Not sure why they insist on presenting this segment in the middle of traffic.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I didn't see Fed's match today as I had conflict of schedule. I was little nervous though. Happy to see that he won without losing a set.From the scoreline, it looks like a close match for a straight set win. But, the same scoreline can be achieved both in a tense match and
in a match where there is no doubt who will win. I suppose the first set was tense and in the last two sets there was no doubt who is going to win. I checked out the stats and saw the highlights. Fed has hit a whooping 61 winners, for a differential of 54. MZ hit 20 winners and had a differential of 11. When there is that much difference in the differential, normally I don't expect such close scoreline. Need to watch the full match if I can find it somewhere.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

After a week of play, it is time to take another look at odds of winning as per the bookies.

1. Roger 5/2
2. Rafa 11/4
3. Novak 50/13
4. Murray 6
5. Cilic 16
6. Raonic 28
7. Sasha 33
8. Grigor 35
9. Thiem 50

After that there is a steep fall; Berdych is next line with odds of 140.

Roger's odds remain the same. But, Rafa's and Novak's are gradually inching up.

p.s. If anyone wants a proof of how tough Fed's draw is, you can see how many players with a chance to win are in Fed's quarter; There are 4, including hi (that basically covers every one left in his quarter). In Rafa's quarter and Nole's quarter it is 2. In Andy's quarter, there is none other than him.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Jeff Tarango? he was worse than Mac lol

Jeff Tarango was a wus..a real non talent..it was his wife at the time who was the real badass..McEnroe was correct with his tantrum..if chalk flew up the ball was in..McEnroe played a lot better when he was angry..only once did it cause him at the 84 RG vs Lendl.. McEnroe brought me into the game of tennis as a very young kid..he was a rebel and an antihero..the world needed that at that time.

 

[Moxie]

Ubaldo and Steve Flink talk through Day 6 and look forward to Week 2. Not sure why they insist on presenting this segment in the middle of traffic.

Their producers suck and so does their sound department. I know you like Flink, and Ubaldo has a great reputation as a tennis journalist, but if they can't get the credentials to be on the grounds, they look like Wayne's World in a basement public access show. There has got to be a better place to stage these guys. I've tried, but I can't get through the whole videos with the traffic noise.

 

[Moxie]

After a week of play, it is time to take another look at odds of winning as per the bookies.

1. Roger 5/2
2. Rafa 11/4
3. Novak 50/13
4. Murray 6
5. Cilic 16
6. Raonic 28
7. Sasha 33
8. Grigor 35
9. Thiem 50

After that there is a steep fall; Berdych is next line with odds of 140.

Roger's odds remain the same. But, Rafa's and Novak's are gradually inching up.

p.s. If anyone wants a proof of how tough Fed's draw is, you can see how many players with a chance to win are in Fed's quarter; There are 4, including hi (that basically covers every one left in his quarter). In Rafa's quarter and Nole's quarter it is 2. In Andy's quarter, there is none other than him.

At this point, the odds seem to me like the same mumbo jumbo as worrying about Tignor's curse. Does it change anything to know what the bookies think? I think we do at least as good a job of assessing the situation. But yes, probably useful for any goofball who can't see who's still got a tough draw in front of them.

 

[atttomole]

I didn't see Fed's match today as I had conflict of schedule. I was little nervous though. Happy to see that he won without losing a set.From the scoreline, it looks like a close match for a straight set win. But, the same scoreline can be achieved both in a tense match and
in a match where there is no doubt who will win. I suppose the first set was tense and in the last two sets there was no doubt who is going to win. I checked out the stats and saw the highlights. Fed has hit a whooping 61 winners, for a differential of 54. MZ hit 20 winners and had a differential of 11. When there is that much difference in the differential, normally I don't expect such close scoreline. Need to watch the full match if I can find it somewhere.

It was kind of tense because Roger got a break, early in the first set, then got broken after a slack service game, but he played the tiebreak well. To me the match looked close, because Zverev served well. However, it was clear that his game is rather limited.

 

[britbox]

Their producers suck and so does their sound department. I know you like Flink, and Ubaldo has a great reputation as a tennis journalist, but if they can't get the credentials to be on the grounds, they look like Wayne's World in a basement public access show. There has got to be a better place to stage these guys. I've tried, but I can't get through the whole videos with the traffic noise.

I doubt they have producers and a sound department... well maybe one guy unless Ubaldo set up a tripod himself. I'm guessing they have credentials - it looks like they are wearing them and Steve Flink is in the Tennis Hall of Fame. The only thing I can think of is that they might not have credentials to do a live recording. Either way, why they don't just do it in the hotel is a question. The presentation in traffic is beyond silly.

 

[Carol]

Jeff Tarango was a wus..a real non talent..it was his wife at the time who was the real badass..McEnroe was correct with his tantrum..if chalk flew up the ball was in..McEnroe played a lot better when he was angry..only once did it cause him at the 84 RG vs Lendl.. McEnroe brought me into the game of tennis as a very young kid..he was a rebel and an antihero..the world needed that at that time.

To be honest I have a vague memory of those players. Maybe I was too little though I remember to watch McEnroe and his bad mood and like you say maybe it helped him to play better but I remember my father has been a very good tennis follower always talking about Borg who was his fav and maybe he influenced me because I don't remember to see him playing but I have seen many vids of his matches. The ones that I saw playing more were Connors and Agassi, I've never been too fan of them but it was an entertaining to watch them

 

[Carol]

I've read that today Sunday the Wimbledon Organization is going to try to fix a little bit the grass because due to the excessive hot its a little more dry and slippery than usually is and one group of 30 operators are going to work on it resowing a seeds named 'perennial ryegrass' and they think that the grass will be in good conditions until the next Sunday. Anyway like many people are saying the very good player has to know to adapt to all the surfaces it doesn't matter the conditions unless the surface would be a joke like the blue clay which was more a synthetic ice rink than anything else

 

[the AntiPusher]

Enforcing it on him for years my arse. He got how many point deductions in the last decade? Warnings don't mean sh1t unless it results in a lost point and he didn't lose too many of them in the last 10 years...

The guy even had the nerve to get the ATP to ban one of the few umpires who had the nerve to enforce the rules. That shows how gutless the weasels are and if you think they're enforcing anything on him you must be delusional I'm afraid. The reason he didn't do anything about it for years was because neither did they. Now they hit him with the occasional time violation "warning". Wow. Can't recall the last time he got a point deduction. Worst case scenario is he gets his first serve taken away once every 5 years...

That's ,damn lies . Over the past 3 years I have seen over 5 instances where Rafa has his first serve taken away. It just doesn't happens when you want it to occur. I have seen whereas those points have came at critical junctions in a match. This is the tennis court, not the judicial court. You are,tryin to convict Rafa based on your deem past grievances as Moxie has stated. However, this is,what you are good as . Go watch the movie No country for Old Man and reference this scene

 

[lob]

I didn't see Fed's match today as I had conflict of schedule. I was little nervous though. Happy to see that he won without losing a set.From the scoreline, it looks like a close match for a straight set win. But, the same scoreline can be achieved both in a tense match and
in a match where there is no doubt who will win. I suppose the first set was tense and in the last two sets there was no doubt who is going to win. I checked out the stats and saw the highlights. Fed has hit a whooping 61 winners, for a differential of 54. MZ hit 20 winners and had a differential of 11. When there is that much difference in the differential, normally I don't expect such close scoreline. Need to watch the full match if I can find it somewhere.

Something's off with Federer's differential there. Federer had to have many more errors. Fed could easily have lost the first set but he didn't screw up the tb. After that, he was still mis-hitting quite a bit. If Djokovic were the opponent today instead of MZ, Fed would be spending next week shopping in London. His margins are small and he is feeling the pressure. He's hitting into the net with the occasional wild mis-hit. Whatever the reason, Djokovic is getting that crucial extra fraction of a second that he needs to set up his shots and is playing a cleaner, more confident game. I just don't see today's Fed getting past today's Djoker unless the former can raise his level substantially. The bookies are giving more weight to their forms earlier this year than their current levels here in this tournament. I hope I am wrong.

 

[mrzz]

unless the surface would be a joke like the blue clay which was more a synthetic ice rink than anything else

As the single and sole defender of blue clay, I will respond to this, knowing that it is useless. Yes, people and players complained about the blue clay being slippery, but NOT A SINGLE PLAYER got injured because of the surface in that tournament, and very few actually fell on the ground. A lot of players (three, if I am not mistaken) got seriously injured in Monaco right before Madrid that year. Much more players are falling to the ground in Wimbledon this year than on the blue clay.

It became kind of "official story" that the blue clay was lame (and you´re not the only one who says that, Carol, I just used your post to reply, since you brought the subject, that is, I am not picking on you, but rather on the subject), but, as it happens a lot lately, it is text book case of "post-truth", and every time I feel in the mood I will speak out -- even if just to piss people off.

The thing with blue clay is that it was fast, so people did not like it. Fair enough, people are entitled to like what they want, and also could rightfully argue that it was disruptive to have that tournament right in the middle of clay season. But thing is that both players and fans invented a narrative to justify their preferences, which was unnecessary, and, honestly, quite stupid.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I didn't see Fed's match today as I had conflict of schedule. I was little nervous though. Happy to see that he won without losing a set.From the scoreline, it looks like a close match for a straight set win. But, the same scoreline can be achieved both in a tense match and
in a match where there is no doubt who will win. I suppose the first set was tense and in the last two sets there was no doubt who is going to win. I checked out the stats and saw the highlights. Fed has hit a whooping 61 winners, for a differential of 54. MZ hit 20 winners and had a differential of 11. When there is that much difference in the differential, normally I don't expect such close scoreline. Need to watch the full match if I can find it somewhere.

If mischa one dimensional style of play worried you, Grigor will have you wearing underpasds to prevent wetting

 

[Carol]

As the single and sole defender of blue clay, I will respond to this, knowing that it is useless. Yes, people and players complained about the blue clay being slippery, but NOT A SINGLE PLAYER got injured because of the surface in that tournament, and very few actually fell on the ground. A lot of players (three, if I am not mistaken) got seriously injured in Monaco right before Madrid that year. Much more players are falling to the ground in Wimbledon this year than on the blue clay.

It became kind of "official story" that the blue clay was lame (and you´re not the only one who says that, Carol, I just used your post to reply, since you brought the subject, that is, I am not picking on you, but rather on the subject), but, as it happens a lot lately, it is text book case of "post-truth", and every time I feel in the mood I will speak out -- even if just to piss people off.

The thing with blue clay is that it was fast, so people did not like it. Fair enough, people are entitled to like what they want, and also could rightfully argue that it was disruptive to have that tournament right in the middle of clay season. But thing is that both players and fans invented a narrative to justify their preferences, which was unnecessary, and, honestly, quite stupid.

If some of you are complaining about the dry grass for convenience how we couldn't complain about that blue fake and horrendous blue clay ? it's the same like to cover Wimbledon courts with a sinthetic grass, my question is it would be the real tennis or just a joke like to play soccer on HC or Basketball on grass? come on, let's go to be a little more reasonable. Both players had all the reason to complain about that aiwful "invention" and if Madrid decided to restore the conventional clay then obviously was a correct decision and not only because those two players which weren't the only ones complaining

 

[lob]

Given how the matches between Roger and Rafa have gone this year on hard court I think everyone can would agree if this was on a faster court you lot wouldn't be half as cocky. As Darth pointed out earlier, imagine the tables being turned and the French Open turning into a very fast court. Would you be happy? Didn't think so. Legit gripes with this bs surface and heavier balls this year and Roger has his work cut out for him way before thinking of even playing Nadal if that final were to materialize as he has the toughest route by far. With these conditions none of Roger's next opponents are easy. Nadal's on the other hand got much easier and he and his team must be delighted with this pitiful tournament this year.

Pitiful or not, I think this is the year Federer's ship sails. If he doesn't get it done this week, his fans have to stoically accept that nothing good can last forever. This much is still true. Roger built his record without complaining about the slowdown in court and ball speeds, especially on his best surface. Shows what a classy champion he is whatever his other faults may be. Those who think that the grass court and ball weight/texture related complaints are just imaginary should go back and watch some matches from the nineties and eighties.