Dubai Duty Free ATP 500

[bobvance]

Rosol is all over the place

 

[nehmeth]

Ralf can work a pair of pink sneaks, but Rodge? :nono

 

[Front242]

ROFL at that challenge from Rosol. The ball was about a metre wide!

 

[nehmeth]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

 

[Front242]

^ Been waiting for Roger v Novak's first match of the season. Likewise, hope it'll be a good match.

 

[tented]

^ Been waiting for Roger v Novak's first match of the season. Likewise, hope it'll be a good match.

Me, too. So many of their matches have been duds, where one guy played spectacularly, and the other barely showed up. But when they're both on, it's thrilling.

 

[Kieran]

^ Been waiting for Roger v Novak's first match of the season. Likewise, hope it'll be a good match.

Me, too. So many of their matches have been duds, where one guy played spectacularly, and the other barely showed up. But when they're both on, it's thrilling.

Would it be a huge upset if Roger wins? I haven't seen either of them this week, but Nole started slow and cobwebby, apparently, played better yesterday, but may not have been helped by having no match today...

 

[nehmeth]

Would it be a huge upset if Roger wins? I haven't seen either of them this week, but Nole started slow and cobwebby, apparently, played better yesterday, but may not have been helped by having no match today...

It wouldn't be huge, though it would be an upset. Novak was razor sharp for most of the first set yesterday and way better in the 2nd than at any time during his first match. Might be good to have the memory of that match going up against Rodge.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think Novak will go back into cob-web as he did not get his quota of practice
today (Youzhny gave a walk over).

 

[Front242]

^ Been waiting for Roger v Novak's first match of the season. Likewise, hope it'll be a good match.

Me, too. So many of their matches have been duds, where one guy played spectacularly, and the other barely showed up. But when they're both on, it's thrilling.

Would it be a huge upset if Roger wins?

No.

 

[Luxilon Borg]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

Rosol can really play like a dolt. He is a pure ball striker but his tactics are non existent.

He played meathead tennis. I can see why he had his biggest win on grass.

 

[Moxie]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

Rosol can really play like a dolt. He is a pure ball striker but his tactics are non existent.

He played meathead tennis. I can see why he had his biggest win on grass.

Interesting point. Why would you say he had his biggest win on grass?

 

[Luxilon Borg]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

Rosol can really play like a dolt. He is a pure ball striker but his tactics are non existent.

He played meathead tennis. I can see why he had his biggest win on grass.

Interesting point. Why would you say he had his biggest win on grass?

Nadal?

 

[TsarMatt]

Joker vs. Fed should be a good one. They always put on a good show.

 

[Moxie]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

Rosol can really play like a dolt. He is a pure ball striker but his tactics are non existent.

He played meathead tennis. I can see why he had his biggest win on grass.

Interesting point. Why would you say he had his biggest win on grass?

Nadal?

Yes, obviously. I thought you were going to speak to tactics, and why his game works on grass. Or is he just a one-off?

 

[Luxilon Borg]

From what I've seen Roger is playing well, despite having an opponent that is grossly overmatched. Hope he's this sharp against Novak. Will be a nice match.

Rosol can really play like a dolt. He is a pure ball striker but his tactics are non existent.

He played meathead tennis. I can see why he had his biggest win on grass.

Interesting point. Why would you say he had his biggest win on grass?

Nadal?

Yes, obviously. I thought you were going to speak to tactics, and why his game works on grass. Or is he just a one-off?

it is hard to be dismissive of a player that can hit the ball like Rosol, but I think he is a one off.

The win against Nadal was spectacular, and IMO a case of swinging for the fences and being blessed by the Gods of Tennis that day. There was no strategy or thought process involved. Since he has done nothing since...well.

I don't think he has any idea what he is doing out there but physically he he a phenom..and that does win him matches here and there.

 

[Front242]

Big serve anyway for one thing is a huge asset on grass and especially the first few days of the tournament when the grass is at its fastest. Some of the aces he hit against Nadal were unreal, especially the final game of set 5. No one would've returned them. Definitely easier to hit the 99mph backhands and forehands over 100mph he was hitting on a surface like low bouncing fast grass (again related to the first week before the grass becomes mangled and slows down with a higher bounce) than say a slow/medium paced hardcourt where an elite opponent could still run them down.

 

[tented]

If Djokovic beats Roger, their head-to-head would be even at 16-16 -- a noteworthy achievement for Novak.

 

[masterclass]

Odds are that his H2H vs Federer will continue to improve as long as 32 and up Federer keeps playing a prime (not peak) Djokovic. The fact that Federer at his age is still meeting Djokovic in SF and Finals speaks volumes.

But H2H is only 1 fact and overrated by many people. It may tell one something with regards to specific matches and match-ups, especially when the margin is big, but it's not so important in terms of overall performance. Chelsea may lead Manchester UTD. 21-19 in their H2H, since 2000, but when Manchester UTD wins the league championship 7 times during that same time, versus 3 for Chelsea, that H2H doesn't mean so much.

Nikolay Davydenko can continue to hold his H2H edge on Rafael Nadal, but you'll never convince me that Kolya is the better player overall.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[DarthFed]

Yea, Roger also has the atrocious H2H vs. Murray (though that one has context since Roger usually wins the big ones). It is just the way it is when someone hangs around this long and goes against the younger generation a lot of times.