BNP Paribas Masters - ATP 1000 - Oct. 27th to Nov. 2nd

[GameSetAndMath]

It is hard to believe, but the last ATP 1000 Master's tourney is around the corner. In fact, the draw is already out. Federer's path to SF looks fairly straightforward. He may have to face Birdman in SF and Novak in F.

Here are the projected quarterfinals

Novak vs. Andy
Ferrer vs. Nishikori
------------------------
Stan vs. Berdych
Fed vs. Raonic

Murray keeps getting Novak again and again. Also, before seeing Novak, he needs to face Grigor in R16. The French contingent of Tsonga and Monfils are back in action after a while. David Goffin gets into the main draw as a special exempt as he reached Basel SF and so cannot play qualifying in Bercy.

 

[Front242]

Will Llodra be offered a wild card? Hope so if he's not injured. He was a few months ago though :/

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Will Llodra be offered a wild card? Hope so if he's not injured. He was a few months ago though :/

They had only three wild cards and they have given all three to French players predictably.
However, Llodra did not get one. I don't know whether he wanted one in the first place.
He is probably injured (or unofficially retired).

The three wild cards are Roger-Vasselin, Adrian Mannarino and Herbert.

 

[Front242]

Shame. Would like to have seen one last s&v fest from Llodra there as the court suits his game very well. Those guys above are super boring.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There are 6 contenders for the open spots and two of them are bound to miss out even after accounting for Rafa's withdrawal. Grigor and Milos are at the bottom of the contender list at the moment and neither one got a break in the draw here.

Grigor faces Andy in R16 and if he manages to win, he faces Novak in QF. Milos faces Fed in QF.
So, it appears that the race is over before Bercy even begins. All contenders other than the two
Wimbledon semifinalists will take the train to London from Paris.

 

[isabelle]

I wonder is Youngderer 'll really show up : in 2006 he pulled out the first monday so I suppose he'll do the same. It's not a mystery that he dislikes to play Bercy.. moreover he has DC's final after Masters so Forget shouldn't be surprised if a LL replaced him . Wait and see

 

[DarthFed]

Roger will be playing, he will want the chance at #1 and he now has a very realistic chance.

 

[Front242]

Robredo is a pretty tough opponent for anyone right now but Pospisil wouldn't be imo as his serve is very erratic and he loses random service games he shouldn't out of nowhere. He was pretty terrible recently against Murray. Also, the Paris masters will be Tsonga's first match in a few weeks following a virus and wrist injury so I'd imagine if Nishikori is fit the only one out of those who'd trouble him would be Robredo.

 

[TsarMatt]

I'm really hoping Stan does well here.

 

[Kieran]

Novak has a testy run: possibly Kohl, Isner, Murray/Grigor, Whoever. It's not one that should derail him, but he'll need to start at a reasonable level, if he's to defend his crown. he can put the #1 slot to rest in Paris, more or less, if he wins there.

Fed may have Dr Evil in his second match, which isn't necessarily a gimme, but having handled him yesterday, he'll find his range quicker and dispatch the mountain troll in straights. Stan against Former All-Time Great Dolgo in his opening match - or will Thiem cause a ripple?

Interesting first match for Feliciano Lopez, he faces either JJ or a Qualifier. I wonder which Qualifier he'll face, then...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I am not liking the possible Karlovic match up again for Roger. The thing is , it always comes down to a point or two against him. Such a crap shoot. You can play the match of your life and lose two close TBs and you are gone.

The draw looks top heavy again to me. Nole has his work cut out for him. First tournament as a father, no? Let's see how he handles it.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Wow, as many as three different americans qualified in Bercy. They are Sam Querry,
Jack Sock and Donald Young.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I am not liking the possible Karlovic match up again for Roger. The thing is , it always comes down to a point or two against him. Such a crap shoot. You can play the match of your life and lose two close TBs and you are gone.

The draw looks top heavy again to me. Nole has his work cut out for him. First tournament as a father, no? Let's see how he handles it.

Let us hope that Karlovic gets covered in Fog.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

What is the injury with Cilic? He won Moscow just a couple of weeks ago and then
got officially declared as making it to WTF. He then skipped Valencia where he signed
up previously. I thought the was just celebrating his qualification and/or wisely
pacing himself up so that he can perform well in Berct/WTF.

Now that he is sitting out Bercy, it for sure means he has some serious injury.
I don't want to see a lame duck WTF with mostly injured players (Cilic, Kei,
and the tired folks who make it there at the last minute etc).

 

[Front242]

According to this Cilic hurt his right arm which isn't good. Pretty bad also for Gulbis that his right shoulder is acting up a lot lately. That's quite a few withdrawals for him now over it.

http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2014/10/rafael-nadal-and-marin-cilic-withdraw-from-2014-paris-masters/

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Not expecting much from Murray here after playing and going deep for so many weeks prior.

Roger is red hot, he'll be a contender this week, no doubt about it.

The main interest for me is Nole, we've seen Federer return after having newborns and struggle slightly in Rome and Roland Garros, and we saw Nole lose some bad ones in Canada and Cincy after getting married, though you may put that down to a "come down" after winning Wimbledon. I expect he'll be his normal self, more or less, but I wouldn't be that surprised if he gets upset this time....

Dimitrov is almost out of the race, his draw looks tough on paper, but maybe with Murray running on fumes and Djokovic a bit distracted, he could force his way into the latter stages? I don't see it but maybe.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Here is the OOP for Monday. There are 10 first round singles matches scheduled. Dog vs. Thiem stands out.

In an effort to prevent first round exit, Stan has decided to enter the doubles and get some
real time practice before his first match. On top of that, he is playing doubles with Leander Paes,
a doubles stalwart.

 

[tented]

Monday, October 27, 2014

Court Central Start 11:00 A.M.

Dominic Thiem (AUT) v Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)

Jerzy Janowicz (POL) v [Q] Sam Querrey (USA)

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) v [WC] Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Not Before 7:30 P.M.

Richard Gasquet (FRA) v [Q] Denis Istomin (UZB)

Not Before 8:30 P.M.

Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) v Julien Benneteau (FRA)

---

Court 1 Start 11:00 A.M.

Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) v Santiago Giraldo (COL)

[WC] Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) v [WC] Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

[Q] Donald Young (USA) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

[Q] Jack Sock (USA) v Pablo Andujar (ESP)

[PR] Jurgen Melzer (AUT) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)

---

Court 2 Start 2:00 P.M.

Leander Paes (IND) / Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v Feliciano Lopez (ESP) / Max Mirnyi (BLR)

Not Before 4:00 P.M.

Gael Monfils (FRA) / Gilles Simon (FRA) v Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) / Robert Farah (COL)

 

[Kieran]

For Federer to win Paris, it would require him to win 10 matches in 12 days, across two countries. It's a hard schedule for a 33 year old, but this guy is fairly special in how fast he recovers: he played 10 matches in 13 days between Canada and Cinci.

I know, it's indoors now, but even still, it's a tough ask...

 

[masterclass]

For Federer to win Paris, it would require him to win 10 matches in 12 days, across two countries. It's a hard schedule for a 33 year old, but this guy is fairly special in how fast he recovers: he played 10 matches in 13 days between Canada and Cinci.

I know, it's indoors now, but even still, it's a tough ask...

One advantage over the North American hard court twin masters and now is that Basel was a bike ride from home (now maybe a drive ). Didn't have to travel across the ocean to get there. And Paris is a short hop ride in his jet. I don't think travel will be an issue.

But the playing schedule still might be. Because he is prime-time spectator draw, he seems to get evening sessions, and then if he makes the final, it's a short turnaround. He's handled it so far. We'll see what happens in Paris.

Fortunately, the players get a week off before the World Tour Finals. After the push some have made for the final 8, it will be a welcome rest.

Respectfully,
masterclass