Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain, ATP Masters 1000, 2019

[Fiero425]

Clearly he's got some mental issues. But here's the thing: even with those issues, he's still managed to win 4 big titles and 10 overall - all before turning 22 years old. With proper coaching and more so, maturation, what more is possible?

For some reason I'm reminded a bit of Marat Safin. His attitude is problematic in a different way, but there's an atittude issue. Like Safin he's a big, strong kid who hits the ball hard but moves surprisingly well. Rewatching highlights of Safin-Federer in the 2005 AO SF (which Safin won) I was impressed by how it seemed Safin barely moved from the center of the court, while hitting the ball hard corner to corner, sending Roger flying all over the place. I could see a best-case scenario of Zverev being a more consistent version of Safin in that tournament. If he can get there, he should win a handful of Slams. I still don't see him doing any worse than winning a Slam or two. If he doesn't win at least one Slam, he'll be one of the biggest disappointments in Open Era history.

Getting to the 2nd week of majors would be nice! It only makes sense with all his expectations to at least do that! If he's eliminated before the 4th round in Paris with a good draw, I'll be done! I wasted so much on Grigor, Kei, & Milos! I can be more a fan of Thiem, Shap, FAA, Khachanov, Tsitsipas, & Coric! :whistle:

 

[herios]

Getting to the 2nd week of majors would be nice! It only makes sense with all his expectations to at least do that! If he's eliminated before the 4th round in Paris with a good draw, I'll be done! I wasted so much on Grigor, Kei, & Milos! I can be more a fan of Thiem, Shap, FAA, Khachanov, Tsitsipas, & Coric! :whistle:

You got quite a bunch there.

 

[Fiero425]

You got quite a bunch there.

The break out should come from that group! Others aren't all that much on my radar like Medvedev, Basilashvili, & Cecchinato! :whistle:

 

[El Dude]

Basilashvili and Cecchinato are more in the Dimitrov generation - just late-bloomers.

There are really quite a lot of younger players to watch right now.

 

[Moxie]

I didn't see the match. Hardly seen any tennis at all lately with the English Premier League and Champions League going on right now, but I didn't expect Fed to get past Thiem here. The scoreline tells me he was competitive and had chances to win. Did you watch the match?

I hope you don't mind if I weigh in here. In the first set, Roger was serving something in the high 80's% and Thiem was low. Fed very aggressive, including a couple of SABR's and Thiem hanging back. After losing the 1st, Thiem snapped to immediately about being more aggressive, and served better, as well. I had to stop watching at 6-6 in the TB, and when I came back, it was over. That's all I know.

 

[DarthFed]

I didn't see the match. Hardly seen any tennis at all lately with the English Premier League and Champions League going on right now, but I didn't expect Fed to get past Thiem here. The scoreline tells me he was competitive and had chances to win. Did you watch the match?

Nah, I didn't see any of it but he must still be doing pretty well considering he hasn't played on clay in 3 years. Still, I hope he sits out Rome, no need to risk overplaying heading into Wimbledon.

 

[herios]

The break out should come from that group! Others aren't all that much on my radar like Medvedev, Basilashvili, & Cecchinato! :whistle:

Medvedev will be a lot better that Coric for example, mark my word.

 

[don_fabio]

Medvedev will be a lot better that Coric for example, mark my word.

I have same feeling too. Those flat shots can be really deadly. Don't see a Coric with some real weapon yet, but he seems to be aiming in the Djokovic direction of becoming very solid on all sides. There is no more room for weaknesses in the game. Players need to become so good in all aspects of the game, otherwise they won't win anything memorable. It's like the lost gen opened the eyes for new gen to realize what they didn't have to take down any of the big 3.

Who gave Tsitsipas a nickname Perseus? Was it one of you guys? Anyway, I think it's hillarious

 

[don_fabio]

Bookies are giving slight edge to Nole today. I must admit it is about time he reaches a final of a masters event. Anyway, should be a close match today.

Nadal seems to be a bigger favorite today, than he was yesterday against Stan. Nadal demolished Tsitsipas in 6/7 sets they played so far except that TB in Toronto last year. Hope the greek is ready to put up some fight.

 

[atttomole]

I like Djokovic’s wry smiles.

 

[Moxie]

I have to say that the better player for most of that set was Thiem, and the much better player in the TB was Djokovic.

 

[don_fabio]

I'm just on the livescore, so can't judge. How's the quality of the tennis?

 

[Moxie]

Djokovic took quite a long time to wake up. Since he has, Thiem has gone more passive and error-prone.

 

[atttomole]

The more I watch Thiem, the more I think he is a physical specimen.

 

[kskate2]

Who gave Tsitsipas a nickname Perseus? Was it one of you guys? Anyway, I think it's hillarious

It definitely started here. It was either Darth or GSM. The longer you're here you'll find out a lot of players have nicknames that were coined on this site.

 

[don_fabio]

It definitely started here. It was either Darth or GSM. The longer you're here you'll find out a lot of players have nicknames that were coined on this site.

I noticed a few more during last couple of months. Brings up the fun when someone writes in such a way

 

[Moxie]

I'm sure it was Darth that started that nickname. Pretty uninspired tennis by (arguably) the two 2nd-best clay courters on tour, I thought, in spite of the commentator's trying to goose it up after the fact.

 

[lob]

I'm just on the livescore, so can't judge. How's the quality of the tennis?

The quality was pretty high. The difference was Thiem's lack of confidence when he had chances to take a lead.

Thiem's serve was his weaker link against Djokovic's return. But bottomline is that Thiem got shaky when he needed to be solid.

 

[Moxie]

The quality was pretty high. The difference was Thiem's lack of confidence when he had chances to take a lead.

Thiem's serve was his weaker link against Djokovic's return. But bottomline is that Thiem got shaky when he needed to be solid.

I found it only sporadically high.

 

[10isfan]

The result is somewhat surprising. Djoke hasn’t been playing well the last few weeks. I thought Tiem would win. Two tiebreaks are more exciting than the lopsided sets we’ll get from Tsitsipas.