Barcelona Open 2017, Barcelona, Spain, ATP 500

[the AntiPusher]

hope Sir Andy can win the tourney, he needs to improve his level

Andy hasn't looked sharp this week.. I would say that Thiem should take this one. He is really hitting the ball well this week.

 

[Carol]

Guys, try to focus in the great shots instead to talk about something unworthy

 

[Frode789]

6-2 first set. Looks like Murray is on vacation.

 

[Carol]

Muzz is trying but it seems it's his turn going through a bad patch :nono

 

[Front242]

What's with the ball girl standing right in front of the other one a few minutes ago? Kind of erotic for a tennis match! :snicker

 

[the AntiPusher]

What happened to Thiem , his game has went walk about. Murray played possum..only moody Murray can save Thiem chances to turn this around.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Looks like Murray is almost back to 100%:
-Touching body parts? Check!
-Sarcastic smile? Check!
-Talking and swearing at the box? Check!

..and his game is getting there too

 

[DarthFed]

Fine. Then my only point to you, as it ever was: hold the same standards for both. And apparently you might, if you read your own posts: (quoted from your above): "EVERY athlete has an incentive to cheat." While you said earlier: "Also, if he decided to just dope this year when he's already considered to be the GOAT by most people that'd be pretty stupid." Well, then, however stupid you might say it is, Roger had an incentive to cheat, if he wanted more Major titles. As I've said before, I'm not claiming he did, but just consider how hypocritical it sounds, from the outside. You're going with your intuition on both of them, and your intuition is clouded by bias.

As to Rafa, you petulantly keep ignoring the more steady trajectory that his career was on, even though others besides me have tried to explain it to you. Without an injury in 2004, he would likely have made a steadier rise in the rankings. But he was long-poised to be exactly that clay player to come to full-flower in 2005. It is a feature of your fan-blindedness that you believe fully that Roger is so talented that he dominated tennis for so long on his beautiful game, but that it can't be true that another super-talented player couldn't have come up at the shortly behind. That a "Roger Federer" is simply a gift from the gods, and that a "Rafael Nadal" must somehow be manufactured by PEDs. Regardless of our being on opposite sides of the fan-chasm, you have to admit that that's not an even-handed notion. What both have accomplished is down to, more than anything else, extraordinary amounts of talent, dedication to the sport, natural ability and will to achieve. In the skills and IQ specific to tennis, I don't think that PEDs are enough to make up the difference at the very top. For that reason, I'm not interested in your comparisons to ball-bashers in baseball, or the guy who can cheat via mere endurance in the Tour de France.

Every athlete does have an incentive and that includes Roger now, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, etc. It's just if we are comparing incentives then his incentive to start cheating after winning 17 majors is going to be lower than his incentive when he was slamless or even say 2008 when he was at 12 slams and showing signs of slipping. That was my point, he now has a lot more to risk if he gets caught and he also figures to have less upside given he's near the end of his career.

And we will agree to disagree (I know you hate when I say that ) about PED's not making a huge difference at the very top. You may remember the "wise" Samson during Rafa's dominant 2013 saying tennis is not an endurance sport and PED's don't matter and then 2-3 years later he was blaming Nadal's irrelevance on Rafa being a lazy sack of crap who is no longer in great shape. Tennis very much is an endurance sport, and a sport where movement and strength matters. ie, it's a physical sport, ie drugs would help anyone be better than they naturally are. If it was all just about technical ability Roger would pretty much never lose to Nadal or anyone for that matter, and yes I know you and Carol will be outraged by that statement but it's something even Rafa and his uncle would admit.

 

[atttomole]

That was an anticlimax. I expected a tiebreak to decide this match. Terrible error from Murray.

 

[britbox]

Murray's endurance at Barcelona comes to an end. Thiem takes him out - 6/2 3/6 6/4.

 

[DarthFed]

And Murray falls to Thiem. Was actually a bit closer than I expected so maybe Muzz is on his way back up in form, but still clearly not too good yet.

 

[herios]

Finally a very good win for Domi, nice to see

 

[Front242]

Win or lose in the final, good points gain for Thiem today.

 

[herios]

Rafa's grunting is very annoying. Makes me cringe. :nono

 

[Front242]

Not even watching. But yes I agree. I hate grunting no matter who it is. Murray just goes EEEEEEEEE.

 

[herios]

Not even watching. But yes I agree. I hate grunting no matter who it is. Murray just goes EEEEEEEEE.

I usually do not watch his matches either, mainly because of his grunting. Just tuned in for a few points to see how Zeby is playing.
I am off now going to groceries

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa's memory should be elephant like. I would be disappointed if he doesn't dismantle this guy quickly.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Not even watching. But yes I agree. I hate grunting no matter who it is. Murray just goes EEEEEEEEE.

Grunting is due to nerves although Roger doesn't do it much probably because of his improvement of his backhand.

 

[Front242]

Not even watching. But yes I agree. I hate grunting no matter who it is. Murray just goes EEEEEEEEE.

Grunting is due to nerves although Roger doesn't do it much probably because of his improvement of his backhand.

So Nadal and Murray are nervous all the time? Roger hardly EVER grunts, except a tiny noise when he serves, which practically everyone does 'cos you're looking up in the sky and hitting the ball hard usually.

 

[Front242]

Zeballos takes far too long to line up his shots so he hasn't a prayer if you just keep hitting hard into the corners.