Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart Open 2018, ATP 250

[monfed]

You think as Fed ages, too fast isn’t great for him? He will lose foot speed as time passes.

Yes but he wouldn't have lost 3 finals to faker and dull combined. That was a major loss.

 

[DarthFed]

You think as Fed ages, too fast isn’t great for him? He will lose foot speed as time passes.

I don't know if there is such a thing as too fast for him. Movement means less when it is this fast but of course Roger overall in his prime is better than this 36 year old version.

His main competition at Wimbledon would've come from the huge servers, it's possible he loses a couple that he won but it's also very likely he never loses to Nadal or Djokovic. If they had zero wins there as would be likely they wouldn't be in the GOAT picture (and Nole is far out of it now anyways). For as much as Nadal and his uncle complain about surfaces it has been way to his benefit compared to Roger. If RG was played on Madrid type surface how many less does Rafa win and how many more does Roger?

 

[Fiero425]

Doesn't look like anyone's talking about Raonic at all; a pretty dangerous lower seed that did beat Roger in Brisbane a couple years ago! Fed barely made it through today against Kyrgios; he might be vulnerable to the big serving of Milos! He should have taken back the #1 ranking just in time for Wimbledon, but it'll all come down to QUEENS which is thought to be the toughest draw in their history! :whistle:

 

[Moxie]

I don't know if there is such a thing as too fast for him. Movement means less when it is this fast but of course Roger overall in his prime is better than this 36 year old version.

His main competition at Wimbledon would've come from the huge servers, it's possible he loses a couple that he won but it's also very likely he never loses to Nadal or Djokovic. If they had zero wins there as would be likely they wouldn't be in the GOAT picture (and Nole is far out of it now anyways). For as much as Nadal and his uncle complain about surfaces it has been way to his benefit compared to Roger. If RG was played on Madrid type surface how many less does Rafa win and how many more does Roger?

I thought the grass was changed at the All-England Club in 2001. That means that every Wimbledon won by each of the Big 4 would have been won on the same surface. Everything else is speculation. Also, it should be noted that the surface of Madrid isn't all you'd need at RG to produce like conditions...you'd also have to move Paris up by 2000 feet above sea level.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I wish they kept court speed index for all the minor tournaments too. Stuttgart and Halle are lightning quick. The Wimbledon surface to grass is like if they played RG with the Madrid surface. Rafa and others have caught enormous breaks with the Wimbledon surface over the years. No reason Roger couldn't have won at least 10 out of the past 15 Wimbledon's on fast grass.

Here we go..grass court speed ..sigh..i am more concerned about the weather. I want it hot and dry..gladiator style.

 

[10isfan]

The oracle has spoken and it played out exactly this way.

Would you please predict Fed will win Wimby by playing no more than 21 sets injury-free? Thanks.

 

[10isfan]

Queen and Halle are both 500 points but almost everyone is in London. This is the break Fed needs to win another title.

 

[Fiero425]

Here we go..grass court speed ..sigh..i am more concerned about the weather. I want it hot and dry..gladiator style.

Borg obviously proved if one had the nerve, heart, and stamina, he could overcome the worst of it with choppy, fast, and unpredictable grass of the old days! He had to deal with some of the best on grass and he survived; HELL he destroyed taking 5 in a row! Only been done a handful of times going back to Pre-Open era! I miss those days; wasn't as much a war as a chess match at times with the best in the world! People think it's the serve and being able to pound out as many aces as possible! Back in '76, John Feaver of Australia spiked 50 in the 2nd round and he still lost to countryman and #10 seed, John Newcombe in 5! Those were the days of true grit and determination due to the surface being so volatile; esp. if dry one day and slippery the next! :whistle:

 

[DarthFed]

I thought the grass was changed at the All-England Club in 2001. That means that every Wimbledon won by each of the Big 4 would have been won on the same surface. Everything else is speculation. Also, it should be noted that the surface of Madrid isn't all you'd need at RG to produce like conditions...you'd also have to move Paris up by 2000 feet above sea level.

Yes they shamelessly changed the surface and then they made the ball heavier starting in 2006. Roger has only won 5 of the 12 Wimbledon's since the ball was changed. I get the difference in sea level, I'm just comparing the extreme difference between Wimbledon and other grass to the extreme difference between Madrid and other clay.

 

[DarthFed]

Here we go..grass court speed ..sigh..i am more concerned about the weather. I want it hot and dry..gladiator style.

I could care less about temperature, on a proper grass court Rafa wouldn't have had a prayer of winning one. That backswing alone would ruin his chances

 

[Horsa]

I generally don't like sports where there isn't any scoring. Baseball is way too slow and soccer fields and hockey ranks would need to be significantly shrunk for me to be interested.

I can see where you're coming from. I just love horses so anything with horses in is attractive to me. Your baseball is similar to our rounders & I haven't seen any hockey since I had to play in High School. The same goes for basketball & I wasn't very good. I didn't know much about them either maybe because I never paid attention. I got 2/10 in both my basketball & hockey tests. I preferred playing tennis & squash.

 

[Horsa]

I'm surprised to hear any non-Americans who don't love soccer. Even here the interest in soccer has picked up in a major way the past decade even though the team has always sucked.

I don't like soccer either & I'm a Brit.

 

[atttomole]

Nobody else is commenting, it's like there is some big soccer tournament going on or something

True. I was watching Argentina vs Iceland. You did a good job of ‘commentating’ this tennis match for us. I saw the 1st set tiebreak and I felt Roger was done for the match, given how Kyrgios was serving. I am happy Roger won in the end, and I hope he got good match practice.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Kyrgios was blasting serves so Roger did not have a chance on many points.

It's Roger though and he showed great play in the 3rd set TB.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Darth, did you get a sense that Roger knew where Nick was going with his serve? I watched a little bit only but Roger was right there, on really fast and accurate serves , with a great return. I got the feeling maybe he or his team analyzed Nick's serve and found clues.

 

[atttomole]

I thought the grass was changed at the All-England Club in 2001. That means that every Wimbledon won by each of the Big 4 would have been won on the same surface. Everything else is speculation. Also, it should be noted that the surface of Madrid isn't all you'd need at RG to produce like conditions...you'd also have to move Paris up by 2000 feet above sea level.

It was changed in 2002. Roger would have been more dominant with 90’s grass.

 

[Fiero425]

Darth, did you get a sense that Roger knew where Nick was going with his serve? I watched a little bit only but Roger was right there, on really fast and accurate serves , with a great return. I got the feeling maybe he or his team analyzed Nick's serve and found clues.

But "back in the day" it really didn't matter, very often if a player was "in the zone," it wouldn't matter if a serve or shot was telegraphed well in advance! A lot of the time you'd just hear "great shot" or "that's too good" and they'd be onto the next point! We don't get a lot of that these days and I miss it! :whistle:

 

[DarthFed]

Darth, did you get a sense that Roger knew where Nick was going with his serve? I watched a little bit only but Roger was right there, on really fast and accurate serves , with a great return. I got the feeling maybe he or his team analyzed Nick's serve and found clues.

Yes he did seem to read it very well but more than that he was putting a good number of them in play even when he had to reach for it. Nick's placement is really impressive and it separates him from a server like Tsonga. The trees of Isner, Karlovic and Milos have better serves but that's it IMO.

Overall I think Kyrgios is the one guy I'd fear at this Wimbledon if Roger is playing near his best. The other huge servers have too many deficiencies. Nick is tough to handle when he is dialed in as he was for two out of three sets. And there's his problem...too many wacky drops in play.

 

[kskate2]

Yes he did seem to read it very well but more than that he was putting a good number of them in play even when he had to reach for it. Nick's placement is really impressive and it separates him from a server like Tsonga. The trees of Isner, Karlovic and Milos have better serves but that's it IMO.

Overall I think Kyrgios is the one guy I'd fear at this Wimbledon if Roger is playing near his best. The other huge servers have too many deficiencies. Nick is tough to handle when he is dialed in as he was for two out of three sets. And there's his problem...too many wacky drops in play.

Or what I like to call walkabouts and he has em in just about every match.

 

[Moxie]

Yes they shamelessly changed the surface and then they made the ball heavier starting in 2006. Roger has only won 5 of the 12 Wimbledon's since the ball was changed. I get the difference in sea level, I'm just comparing the extreme difference between Wimbledon and other grass to the extreme difference between Madrid and other clay.

I fear I've asked you this before, but I find nothing about them changing the balls at Wimbledon. I did find this article, though, that says they've been using Slazenger since early 1900s, which is a heavier ball, and that a heavier ball doesn't bounce as high.

http://www.tennis.com/gear/2017/09/sphere-influence-how-tennis-balls-differ-slams/69174/

Maybe you can help with a source for what has changed since 2007, and what is the effect.

I figured you knew about the altitude in Madrid, but since you whine so much about the surfaces, I didn't want you to get your hopes up with the renovations at RG.