ATP World Tour Finals 2017, London, UK

[Federberg]

Agassi says that Novak is hitting the ball better than EVER..Roger and Rafa's playtime is coming to an end..WINTER will be here by in 5 weeks .

As a Federer fan I'm terrified..... not!

Seeing as Andre has been sunning in Las Vegas for the last decade it's hard to know what reference point he's using to make such a statement. It's also quite interesting how Becker and now Agassi have tended to make such public comments. Is this something to do with what Novak needs to hear?

 

[DarthFed]

Anything that Agassi says about Novak cannot be taken at face value anymore.

But Agassi said he has the body of a 25 year old. Let's talk to Obsi to find out just how right Andre was

 

[herios]

Great job by Grigor. I hope he keeps up the good form

 

[Busted]

Roger was pretty terrible the first two sets. I didn't see the third set because the damn DVR only taped the first two hours. But I'm shocked he won the third set at all let alone by that score. Sascha must have donated quite a bit in the third because Roger was missing damn near everything when he got aggressive. Tactically I thought it was a poor match, Fed's confidence in his shots seemed shaken really early. And he was way too stubborn on the return, Sascha's serve was dialed in and he wasn't catching up to it at all. With how sloppy Sascha was this match I think Fed could've gotten out of there easier if he backed up a couple steps on the return.

Anyways he will gladly take the win but it will be interesting to see how he does vs Cilic. I hope he comes out ultra-aggressive and if he loses make it a quick match and rest up for the semis. Regardless he needs to get in a groove from the baseline otherwise he could get upset this weekend.

I finally got a chance to watch the match late last night and I wouldn't say Roger was "terrible the first two sets"...just average. He was trying to figure out what was working in his game and what wasn't. His SERVE though was terrible and yet when I looked at the stats - he won 83% - 43/52 - of his first serve points and 54% (25/46) of 2nd serve. It looked much worse than that though when I was watching it.

The end of the 2nd set was sloppy from Roger - no doubt about that. But third set I found interesting because after Zverev won the first game he never won another one. That's when you could see that Roger's strategy of yanking the kid all around the court - side to side, up to the net, back to the baseline - and making run hard in all the rallies in the first 2 sets had taken it's toll on Zverev. Kid just did not have his legs anymore and double faulted about 4 times in that final set. So the old man won on fitness as much as all the variety that he threw at Zverev. As much work as Zverev's done with Jez Green - he's got more work to do. HIs fitness seems to be fine if he's playing a guy like Cilic who's willing to slug it out and he's not doing much more than running side to side. But obviously if he plays someone like Roger who's throwing him off-speed pitches - he's working harder and longer on every point.

I think the Sock/Zverev match will be interesting. Will Sock try the same thing - yank the kid around the court, dink him with slices and drop shots and make him run?

 

[Busted]

I don't think Roger will do anything that jeopardizes his chances at the AO. It may be his best chance at #20...Novak is questionable, Andy might still be rusty, and Rafa is his bitch. :spank2: Who else poses a serious threat? Zverev, maybe?

Once we get to Wimbledon/US Open, Novak and Andy could be back in form, Zverev that much older, and other unforeseen developments.

All that said, I must admit to a secret fantasy: Roger plays Roland Garros, Rafa is upset by Thiem, Roger wins it.

My fantasy is Roger plays Roland Garros - and beats Nadal in the final...and then Nadal has nothing else to hide behind in saying Roger's winning their matches these days because they're not on clay...never mind the fact he was beating Roger on other surfaces before this year. Poor old Nadal fans would lose their caca if they no longer had their "but they didn't play on clay" talking point... And really...Roger with 2 FOs, 8 Wimbledon, 5 USO and 5 AOs? A double career slam accomplished at nearly 37? The GOAT debate would be over forever. Even if Nadal tied him with 20 Slams the argument would be - Nadal dominated their matchup early in their careers but Roger owned him at the end of his career...

 

[Busted]

Well if Rafa is playing Brisbane that would just mean that Roger plays Brisbane or Hopman Cup. If he's hunting #1 he will have to follow Rafa around...

:lulz2: Are you trying to give the Nadal fans a complex? They'll start saying Roger is stalking Nadal because he's jealous of his new hair...

 

[Moxie]

My fantasy is Roger plays Roland Garros - and beats Nadal in the final...and then Nadal has nothing else to hide behind in saying Roger's winning their matches these days because they're not on clay...never mind the fact he was beating Roger on other surfaces before this year. Poor old Nadal fans would lose their caca if they no longer had their "but they didn't play on clay" talking point... And really...Roger with 2 FOs, 8 Wimbledon, 5 USO and 5 AOs? A double career slam accomplished at nearly 37? The GOAT debate would be over forever. Even if Nadal tied him with 20 Slams the argument would be - Nadal dominated their matchup early in their careers but Roger owned him at the end of his career...

That is a fantasy, alright.

 

[Busted]

He took it easy..

Took over 2 months off, Recycle.. oops I mean reclined to wait for the nice soft grass and cooler conditions instaed of playing the grueling clay tournaments. No Djoker, No Murray, No Rafa only had to deal with a crying like somebody’s prison bitch cough drop Cilic at SW19, recylce oops I meant recline waiting for the US open series, got Ambushed by Delpotro in NY, reclyced oops I meant reclined to the Asian hardcourt low bouncing indoors and now London.. Yeah he took it EASY

You want some cheese to go with your whine? Nobody makes Rafa play hard court events. As I pointed out the other day - the first clay event is the first week of Feb. The last clay event is the last week of July. Except for the 6 weeks that are IW , Miami and Wimbledon when no other tournaments are scheduled - there are clay court tournaments somewhere in the world nearly every damned week. Nadal can go play on clay until he's permanently caked in red dirt. Nobody's stopping him. At this point, due to his past #1 status, he can pick and choose the tournaments he plays and skip hard court Masters events. BUT...he doesn't. So why should Federer be faulted for NOT playing clay if he doesn't want to? With the career he's had - he's EARNED the right to NOT play any event he doesn't want to. He's 36 and playing a schedule that puts his health and family first. Nadal is 31 and been injured more than Federer who's 5 years older - and is once again injured. So instead of whining about Roger "taking it easy" maybe you should suggest Nadal do the same to save his creaky knees. Otherwise Roger will still be playing at 38 and Nadal will have retired already.

 

[Busted]

at his age the worst he could do was overloading the schedule. He didn't have to get it in Montreal or Cincy, where he had to really push it to play.

Roger said he entered Montreal - late - because he thought he'd spent enough of the year practicing and said, "Let's go play some matches." In retropsect - he probably wished he'd practiced that week instead.

 

[El Dude]

Here's a question. Which is more like to happen?

*Roger beats Rafa at Roland Garros
*Rafa beats Roger at Wimbledon

 

[Front242]

Here's a question. Which is more like to happen?

*Roger beats Rafa at Roland Garros
*Rafa beats Roger at Wimbledon

How about a big fat neither. You want fries with that?

 

[Busted]

Agassi says that Novak is hitting the ball better than EVER..Roger and Rafa's playtime is coming to an end..WINTER will be here by in 5 weeks .

I saw this quote nearly a week ago and it was the same week that Djokovic told Forget at the Paris Open that he could still only play left-handed. Sooooo....not saying Agassi's lying...just saying I never saw a legit source for the Agassi quote...

 

[kskate2]

I finally got a chance to watch the match late last night and I wouldn't say Roger was "terrible the first two sets"...just average. He was trying to figure out what was working in his game and what wasn't. His SERVE though was terrible and yet when I looked at the stats - he won 83% - 43/52 - of his first serve points and 54% (25/46) of 2nd serve. It looked much worse than that though when I was watching it.

The end of the 2nd set was sloppy from Roger - no doubt about that. But third set I found interesting because after Zverev won the first game he never won another one. That's when you could see that Roger's strategy of yanking the kid all around the court - side to side, up to the net, back to the baseline - and making run hard in all the rallies in the first 2 sets had taken it's toll on Zverev. Kid just did not have his legs anymore and double faulted about 4 times in that final set. So the old man won on fitness as much as all the variety that he threw at Zverev. As much work as Zverev's done with Jez Green - he's got more work to do. HIs fitness seems to be fine if he's playing a guy like Cilic who's willing to slug it out and he's not doing much more than running side to side. But obviously if he plays someone like Roger who's throwing him off-speed pitches - he's working harder and longer on every point.

I think the Sock/Zverev match will be interesting. Will Sock try the same thing - yank the kid around the court, dink him with slices and drop shots and make him run?

Probably. Sock has alot of variety in his game especially w/ his top spin FH and he's not afraid of the net. If Sock serves halfway decent, Sasha will be on his heels again.

 

[Front242]

I saw this quote nearly a week ago and it was the same week that Djokovic told Forget at the Paris Open that he could still only play left-handed. Sooooo....not saying Agassi's lying...just saying I never saw a legit source for the Agassi quote...

The same Agassi who made up a bs story that his son had been kidnapped and had to suddenly leave the Australian Open when a random drug tester happened to show up. A truly trustworthy guy alright.

 

[DarthFed]

I finally got a chance to watch the match late last night and I wouldn't say Roger was "terrible the first two sets"...just average. He was trying to figure out what was working in his game and what wasn't. His SERVE though was terrible and yet when I looked at the stats - he won 83% - 43/52 - of his first serve points and 54% (25/46) of 2nd serve. It looked much worse than that though when I was watching it.

The end of the 2nd set was sloppy from Roger - no doubt about that. But third set I found interesting because after Zverev won the first game he never won another one. That's when you could see that Roger's strategy of yanking the kid all around the court - side to side, up to the net, back to the baseline - and making run hard in all the rallies in the first 2 sets had taken it's toll on Zverev. Kid just did not have his legs anymore and double faulted about 4 times in that final set. So the old man won on fitness as much as all the variety that he threw at Zverev. As much work as Zverev's done with Jez Green - he's got more work to do. HIs fitness seems to be fine if he's playing a guy like Cilic who's willing to slug it out and he's not doing much more than running side to side. But obviously if he plays someone like Roger who's throwing him off-speed pitches - he's working harder and longer on every point.

I think the Sock/Zverev match will be interesting. Will Sock try the same thing - yank the kid around the court, dink him with slices and drop shots and make him run?

We will agree to disagree, I thought he was pretty putrid for the first two sets and I didn't see the third one. Roger was slicing half of his backhands because for whatever reason he wasn't confident hitting through it like he has this entire year. Then late in the 2nd set everything was misfiring badly and that was after the total donation to give Zverev the break back. A big part of the issue is the serve and ROS sucked yesterday and when that happens to a player they usually struggle finding any rhythm from the baseline too. That may explain yesterday.

I think Sock-Zverev will go 3 sets and I kind of think Sock will take it. Confidence does weird things. And if we are going off what we've seen so far I'd say Sock played a lot better vs Roger than Zverev did even if the first match was a straight setter

 

[Busted]

Great job by Grigor. I hope he keeps up the good form

I feel bad for Dimitrov...cuz these wins like this give him a false sense of his abilities...and then reality sets in when he plays big matches against better players. Sure, he could pull off a major upset if he plays Roger in the final (especially a subpar Roger)...but how many sets has he ever taken off Roger? I looked it up - 2 out of 16 sets in 6 matches. Then there was the schooling that was Wimbledon this year. NOT a good memory if you're Dimitrov. Of course the real problem for Dimitrov is that he's got losing records against both Sock and Zverev and will have to beat one of them to even get to the finals...

 

[DarthFed]

:lulz2: Are you trying to give the Nadal fans a complex? They'll start saying Roger is stalking Nadal because he's jealous of his new hair...

They all have a major complex already, no need to throw more fuel in the fire haha

 

[DarthFed]

My fantasy is Roger plays Roland Garros - and beats Nadal in the final...and then Nadal has nothing else to hide behind in saying Roger's winning their matches these days because they're not on clay...never mind the fact he was beating Roger on other surfaces before this year. Poor old Nadal fans would lose their caca if they no longer had their "but they didn't play on clay" talking point... And really...Roger with 2 FOs, 8 Wimbledon, 5 USO and 5 AOs? A double career slam accomplished at nearly 37? The GOAT debate would be over forever. Even if Nadal tied him with 20 Slams the argument would be - Nadal dominated their matchup early in their careers but Roger owned him at the end of his career...

I think it's a fantasy that Roger ever plays RG again. After this year I think he will stick with what worked scheduling-wise and ditch the one thing which was an obvious mistake.

But if he plays RG and that's the final and he still has a big win streak vs. Nadal? Well I'd say his chances of winning would be considerably higher than the previous matches there. The reverse happened at Wimbledon when Roger was mentally spooked which made things peachy for Rafa in that 08 match. But seriously I doubt Roger plays RG again and I don't think he'd make the final if he did unless something like this year happens again. Roger this year would've been #2 clay courter by default given the very underwhelming Thiem was.

 

[Busted]

That is a fantasy, alright.

ROTLFMAO. Nadal fans would pee themselves if it happened. Thing is - I had a discussion with someone not too long ago who claimed if Roger had played the clay season that he's have lost his matches with Nadal. I told them to get to real - Roger would have lost before the SF/F and therefore still never would have played Nadal. LOL! Hey...never say I'm not a realist about Roger's clay game these days. He's not that interested in playing on the surface and that in turn would affect how well he does. Ergo - even if he'd played the clay season...he'd still have a perfect record against Nadal this year.

 

[brokenshoelace]

He took it easy..

Took over 2 months off, Recycle.. oops I mean reclined to wait for the nice soft grass and cooler conditions instaed of playing the grueling clay tournaments. No Djoker, No Murray, No Rafa only had to deal with a crying like somebody’s prison bitch cough drop Cilic at SW19, recylce oops I meant recline waiting for the US open series, got Ambushed by Delpotro in NY, reclyced oops I meant reclined to the Asian hardcourt low bouncing indoors and now London.. Yeah he took it EASY

The fuck did I just read?