ATP World Tour Finals

[atttomole]

Five star performance from Zverev. He takes it in straight sets; 6-4 6-3.

 

[El Dude]

Wow, what a performance. He handled Novak far more easily than he did Roger. This bodes well for 2019. RG, anyone?

And how great of a coach is Ivan Lendl?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Also, Glad that Novak did not tie Roger in WTF titles won. He has already tied Roger #of YE #1 finishes.

But, both records are under threat and Novak might possibly overtake Roger on both of them.

 

[atttomole]

Djokovic is always gracious in defeat.

 

[atttomole]

Lendl is always stony-faced. The guy does not seem to have emotions.

 

[Federberg]

back to back Federer and Djokovic. Uber impressive. Well done young gun!

 

[atttomole]

I heard that Darren Cahill and Simona Halep have parted ways.

 

[Moxie]

Oh wow...I turned it on on TTC just now, about to start and I look here...it's all over. I got that timing all wrong. Maybe I'll watch the replay, anyway. Must have been amazing from Zverev, if Djokovic was at all in good form. (And I'm not being facetious. One of Annacone's keys to the match for Zverev yesterday was "hope Novak is under the weather.")

 

[The_Grand_Slam]

 

[El Dude]

Oh wow...I turned it on on TTC just now, about to start and I look here...it's all over. I got that timing all wrong. Maybe I'll watch the replay, anyway. Must have been amazing from Zverev, if Djokovic was at all in good form. (And I'm not being facetious. One of Annacone's keys to the match for Zverev yesterday was "hope Novak is under the weather.")

I only watched the second half of the second set and Novak looked terrible: lethargic, uncaring. I even had the thought, "Maybe he's giving this one to the young guy?"

Don't get me wrong: Sascha looked awesome. I don't think he'll ever be a great mover but he moves well enough that if all of his other parts are clicking he's a very formidable opponent. I see shades of Safin. But Novak was not at his best.

 

[Moxie]

I only watched the second half of the second set and Novak looked terrible: lethargic, uncaring. I even had the thought, "Maybe he's giving this one to the young guy?"

Don't get me wrong: Sascha looked awesome. I don't think he'll ever be a great mover but he moves well enough that if all of his other parts are clicking he's a very formidable opponent. I see shades of Safin. But Novak was not at his best.

I just watched the first set and he looked fine. Sasha just the more aggressive. But when Novak gets discouraged he can look like he's given up. (PS: I'm still watching at 0-0 in the 2nd.)

 

[Moxie]

Wow, what a performance. He handled Novak far more easily than he did Roger. This bodes well for 2019. RG, anyone?

And how great of a coach is Ivan Lendl?

Ha ha! Everyone always looking for the next winner at RG, but you skipped right over the AO.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I was hoping for someone more impartial to comment. But did you even re-watch it? How do you know he hit it right at them? There's no telling where they are in the stands. Especially when the newscaster admits it "didn't go anywhere near" them. You've seen that gesture from a tennis player any number of times. The ball is dead, it comes back to them and they redirect up at the stands. (And get a warning for it, generally.) He didn't even whack at it, unlike what the commentary suggests. You see what you like...and you're susceptible to that hysterical commentary.

If you are talking about morality and ethics, it is always the case that the intention is more important than the actual results of an action.
Very clearly Nalbandian did not intend to harm the linesmen and Ferrer intended to hit the ball towards the crying baby. The fact that the linesmen got hurt badly and the baby escaped does not matter as far as ethics is concerned.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Since Wimbledon started, Novak was kind of on a roll. But, he had three losses. All of them are to Next Gen players. He lost o Perseus in Canada, lost to coin thrower in Bercy and to the Giraffe in WTF. This means different youngsters are finding a way to beat Novak, despite he allegedly being back to his dominating self.

The key take away message is that Novak is not going to dominate in the year 2019. I am not saying he will go bust. He has to share the spoils along with others.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Notwithstanding Sasha's biggest win in his career, I don't see him winning a slam in 2019. That is because WTF, while an important tourney, is still only best of three sets.

I am not saying Sasha will never win a slam or he won't have a good career. I am just saying, most probably he is not ready to win a slam in 2019.

 

[Moxie]

Notwithstanding Sasha's biggest win in his career, I don't see him winning a slam in 2019. That is because WTF, while an important tourney, is still only best of three sets.

I am not saying Sasha will never win a slam or he won't have a good career. I am just saying, most probably he is not ready to win a slam in 2019.

I don't know...he's taken a big step up. And he has the coach with the Midas touch.

 

[atttomole]

I only watched the second half of the second set and Novak looked terrible: lethargic, uncaring. I even had the thought, "Maybe he's giving this one to the young guy?"

Don't get me wrong: Sascha looked awesome. I don't think he'll ever be a great mover but he moves well enough that if all of his other parts are clicking he's a very formidable opponent. I see shades of Safin. But Novak was not at his best.

I watched the whole match. The first set was close and Zverev was matching Djokovic shot for shot. Djokovic seemed rattled by Zverev's consistency, because the German was not shanking. Djokovic was beaten clean.

 

[atttomole]

Notwithstanding Sasha's biggest win in his career, I don't see him winning a slam in 2019. That is because WTF, while an important tourney, is still only best of three sets.

I am not saying Sasha will never win a slam or he won't have a good career. I am just saying, most probably he is not ready to win a slam in 2019.

I agree with you. If it were a best of five match, I would still have taken Djokovic. Lendl has to psych up Zverev for the grand slams. Considering what he has done with Murray, it is looking like he could do the same with Zverev.

 

[atttomole]

Our friend Fiero425 has disappeared.

 

[Moxie]

If you are talking about morality and ethics, it is always the case that the intention is more important than the actual results of an action.
Very clearly Nalbandian did not intend to harm the linesmen and Ferrer intended to hit the ball towards the crying baby. The fact that the linesmen got hurt badly and the baby escaped does not matter as far as ethics is concerned.

There is nothing to indicate that Ferrer was actually trying to hit the crying baby, if you watch the video. One thing I will say about "intent," though, is that in both cases the players chose to display their anger on court. In Ferrer's case, the child would have been hundreds of feet away, and the newscaster did say that the ball didn't come anywhere near the child. If find it very implausible that his "intent" was to hit the child, especially if you watch the video. In Nalbandian's case, the lines person was a foot away, (literally,) and got hurt in the fallout. Unfortunately, this is an example of why players are not meant to display their tempers. Besides being unsportsmanlike, someone could get hurt. Remembering also the Shapo incident, when an umpire had to have eye surgery. And Djokovic nearly hit a lines person when he threw a racquet. I'm not defending Ferrer, other than to point out the degree of Front's outrage at it compared to what the eye test tells me about the offense. This conversation started because monfed was griping about Sasha's on-court demeanor, bemoaning that he should be more of a gentleman like Haas and Nalbandian. I suggested he might try a better example that the Argentine. My point is really about Front's spending so much time over the years complaining about players' peccadilloes on court, or mere grousing, in the cases of Zverev and Murray, and giving Nalbandian a pass.