Hamburg 500
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El Dude
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I didn't want to say it first, but others have implied it already: Ferrer seems to play in some tournaments because they're easy points/money pickings. I mean there were only two other top 20 players at Hamburg, and neither are what I'd call strong top 20 (up-and-comers) - Fognini, Robredo.
ATP 500 tournaments (and 250s) mainly seem to be played by top 10 players as warm-ups for larger tournaments and/or when they're a personal--perhaps home-town--favorite of a player (e.g. Rogter at Basel). But both lesser tournaments seem to be the battle ground for #10-30 players.
ATP 500 tournaments (and 250s) mainly seem to be played by top 10 players as warm-ups for larger tournaments and/or when they're a personal--perhaps home-town--favorite of a player (e.g. Rogter at Basel). But both lesser tournaments seem to be the battle ground for #10-30 players.
herios
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El Dude said:
At least you used the verb "seems". You cannot know precisely, unless he told you. David"s career has been built on endurance. That defines his style of play. His body allows him to play as much as he does. It is something which IMO needs to be admired and not criticized.
So what if he is for the money? Everybody else is in for it. Big deal.
Murat Baslamisli
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El Dude
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herios said:
I think you're reading more criticism in my post than I intended. Nothing wrong with any of that. I think it does support the idea, though, that Ferrer has a very hard ceiling in terms of performance level, one which is a bit lower than more erratic players like Tsonga and Berdych whose careers have been generally less successful. In my view, Ferrer is the example par excellence of a player who has utterly and thoroughly maximized his potential. His ability level is probably more in the #10-20 range, but due to his hard work (and yes, savvy scheduling) he's been hanging out in the top 10 for years and made it as high as #3. I have immense respect for the man.
Front242
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Was checking the scores on tennis.com earlier and thought the match had ended with Mayer retiring after losing the first set. Maybe there was a rain delay. Great win for him anyway and Ferrer's cunning plan to bag 500 points on an easy field backfired and bit him on the ass.
The thing that kills me with watching Ferrer matches, is that he never deviates from the plan. He plays any given player exactly the same way. After awhile, you know exactly that he's going to go crosscourt, or run around his fh, or even where he's likely to serve... It can be a bit boring. Its hard to stop it of course, considering how its almost always the percentage play against that particular player, but sometimes it backfires badly. It did today.
Mayer kinda got a bead on how Ferrer was playing and it allowed him to stay in it. He was anticipating balls long before he should have.
Had Ferrer thrown in a few monkey wrenches, maybe 6 or 7 shots in that match, it would have given Mayer something to think about. Instead, it was always routine/routine/routine.
Mayer kinda got a bead on how Ferrer was playing and it allowed him to stay in it. He was anticipating balls long before he should have.
Had Ferrer thrown in a few monkey wrenches, maybe 6 or 7 shots in that match, it would have given Mayer something to think about. Instead, it was always routine/routine/routine.
Front242
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Moxie629 said:
True but you can bet he expected to win as most people probably did. When interviewed after his match against Zverev they were talking about Mayer not dropping a set all tournament and in great form and you could see Ferrer's expression of whatever, I'm going to win. But he didn't. So I'm sure he's not too happy.
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He won't be happy to lose the final as the top seed to an unseeded opponent who's never won a title before and only contended one final.
Further to the discussion over Daveed's scheduling, you can't just look at the number of tournaments played, it's the matches that rack up for a player like Ferrer who should be able to go deep in most of these tournaments.
I'm surprised that the likes of Berdych, Dimitrov, Raonic and Tsonga don't play more of these 500 level tournaments because these are the biggest tournaments they're likely to get their hands on at this stage. Del Potro played a lot of them last year and I wouldn't say it did him any harm:
- Reached Indian Wells final shortly after winning Rotterdam and playing Dubai.
- Reached Cincinnati semis shortly after winning Washington
- Reached Shanghai final after winning Tokyo
- Reached Paris QFs after winning Basel
The point being that the second tier players can go to these tournaments, get a reasonably reputable title (by their standards) and still compete well at the subsequent Masters 1000 events. If I was Berdych, for example, with one title in the last 18 months, I'd be turning up to a few more of these 500s.
Congratulations to Leonardo Mayer. Wimbledon last 16 and his first title in the last few weeks, that's a very significant spurt of form out of seemingly nowhere, well done.
Further to the discussion over Daveed's scheduling, you can't just look at the number of tournaments played, it's the matches that rack up for a player like Ferrer who should be able to go deep in most of these tournaments.
I'm surprised that the likes of Berdych, Dimitrov, Raonic and Tsonga don't play more of these 500 level tournaments because these are the biggest tournaments they're likely to get their hands on at this stage. Del Potro played a lot of them last year and I wouldn't say it did him any harm:
- Reached Indian Wells final shortly after winning Rotterdam and playing Dubai.
- Reached Cincinnati semis shortly after winning Washington
- Reached Shanghai final after winning Tokyo
- Reached Paris QFs after winning Basel
The point being that the second tier players can go to these tournaments, get a reasonably reputable title (by their standards) and still compete well at the subsequent Masters 1000 events. If I was Berdych, for example, with one title in the last 18 months, I'd be turning up to a few more of these 500s.
Congratulations to Leonardo Mayer. Wimbledon last 16 and his first title in the last few weeks, that's a very significant spurt of form out of seemingly nowhere, well done.
