Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada, ATP Masters

[GameSetAndMath]

Even though Shapovlov is from other side of the wall, I believe USTA will give him a WC into USO MD in consideration of his recent antics.

 

[mrzz]

@herios, @mrzz, what part of "Ljubicic was a more successful player" (than Haase) did you folks miss? I probably could have stated that better - clearly "Lube" was better than Haase is, who is the quintessential "journeyman." I just mentioned Ljubicic because, going back in time, he's the only guy I could remember that wasn't regularly in the elite or near elite.

I replied to the "He'd probably be the worst player to win a Masters since...Ivan Ljubicic?" part... Checking the Masters Winners after Ljubicic, besides the big 3 + 1 + 1, who are obviously better than Ljubicic, we have Soderling, Ferrer, Cilic and Zverev. Ljubicic got to a higher ranking than all of those guys (even if I think that Soderling would have won much more if not for the mono), so I still dispute a bit the phrasing. Anyway I thought the list of winners was larger, I wrongfully had Tsonga and Berdych also in mind when I wrote that. Also, I checked his rankings history and I see that he was less of a top 10 regular than I remembered. He passed 1,5 years as top 10 and about 4 as top 20, so in this regard, yes, he is worst than most guys on the list -- apart from Zverev who is still young and more than likely will have numbers better than that. I won´t check/compare titles, but with 10 I guess he is a bit behind the rest in this regard too.

So, ok, it is not that harsh to call him the "worst" masters winner since 2010 -- but if we measure by "career highest ranking" he is tied in first place (with Ferrer, among non big 3+1+1).

 

[mrzz]

Then Roger has to be the favourite to end no. 1 in the rankings

IMO he already was, even before Montreal. No disrespect for Nadal but statistically in the last 3 or 4 years Federer has done better than Nadal in the north American part of the season, and much better in later part of the season. It was, and still is, an open race between the two, but if you had to pick a favorite it would be him (in other words, no need to start a Fedal war here).

Too bad that so many players are out of contention. It will take out a bit of the (perceived) accomplishment of either Nadal or Federer when they get #1 (and YE #1). The "unfair" part of it is that those guys dropped after they were out of contention, but that won´t stop people from saying that they only got there because those guys were out. Well, anyway it really doesn't matter...

 

[kskate2]

Order of Play for Semifinals, Saturday, August 12, 2017

 

[isabelle]

we'll finally have at least a young gun in final, a brace of fresh air in 2017's season

 

[Fiero425]

we'll finally have at least a young gun in final, a brace of fresh air in 2017's season

What else have I been beggin' for for the last 5 years? Bout time too! Disappointed that Theim isn't keeping up with Sasha, but he has more game which may take longer to harness! That one-handed BH is right up there with Gasquet when he's on!

 

[Busted]

we'll finally have at least a young gun in final, a brace of fresh air in 2017's season

Should be an interesting match between Shapovalov\Zverev. If Zverev wins I think he's probably got a 50/50 chance against Roger tomorrow. Roger told Brad Gilbert on ESPN that he hadn't even practiced since Wimbledon. He said he did some fitness work last week and decided he'd practiced enough this year and it was time to go play some matches. That explains not just his rust but why he's in Toronto without his family. It sounds like a last minute decision to play. Chris Fowler said he wasn't entered in the tourney until late - which we all knew. So his "practice" has been 4 matches - and the rust has been evident. Whoever he plays tomorrow has probably got a decent shot at winning - especially since Roger hasn't won Montreal on the few occasions he has played there - and his serving has been spotty. Giving back breaks to mediocre players immediately after breaking? That's definitely not his normal game

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I did not watch Fed's match today as I knew he could win this one even with a D game.

But, unless Roger brings his A game tomorrow, he has a good chance of losing to either one of the young chaps.

 

[Fiero425]

I did not watch Fed's match today as I knew he could win this one even with a D game.

But, unless Roger brings his A game tomorrow, he has a good chance of losing to either one of the young chaps.

We can only hope, just to break up the lock of the "Big 4" owning most major events the last 10+ years!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

We can only hope, just to break up the lock of the "Big 4" owning most major events the last 10+ years!

Sorry buddy. I am not in the hoping camp. Go Fed!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Shapovalov just finished a 10 min game to hold for 3-1 (on serve). If things go this way, these two guys will kill each other before one of them will be fed as the "young blood sacrifice" at the altar of Fed for the well being of NextGen players.

 

[mrzz]

I did not watch Fed's match today as I knew he could win this one even with a D game.

But, unless Roger brings his A game tomorrow, he has a good chance of losing to either one of the young chaps.

Federer played around the same level he had against RBA. He is clearly trying to save himself. Up till now very little energy spent.

Only hiccup was when he blew up a 2 mini-breaks, 4-1 lead in the tie-break, falling back to 4-5. A small dose of luck then and he didn't let the set sleep.

 

[mrzz]

to hold for 3-1 (on serve)

It was for 3-2, GSM. No breaks yet...

 

[lob]

Is there a free live stream of tomorrow's match somewhere? ESPN2 is not streaming it to my internet provider.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

1. I was expecting this would be a lengthy semifinal and so the winner would have been compromised. That was not the case.
Zverev is not spent. He should be fresh enough for tomorrow's match.

2. In 2014, Roger lost to a hot Tsonga in the finals. That year, Roger played all his matches at night and all of a sudden the
final alone was a day match and this caused some difficulty in adjustment to Roger as well. However, this year Roger
played all his matches in daytime and so that issue would not be there. Actually, that issue may be there for Sasha.
I know for sure that he played multiple night matches. But, I am not sure whether he had one or two day matches.

 

[Fiero425]

1. I was expecting this would be a lengthy semifinal and so the winner would have been compromised. That was not the case.
Zverev is not spent. He should be fresh enough for tomorrow's match.

2. In 2014, Roger lost to a hot Tsonga in the finals. That year, Roger played all his matches at night and all of a sudden the
final alone was a day match and this caused some difficulty in adjustment to Roger as well. However, this year Roger
played all his matches in daytime and so that issue would not be there. Actually, that issue may be there for Sasha.
I know for sure that he played multiple night matches. But, I am not sure whether he had one or two day matches.

I surfed by periodically, but it's been rather cool! No one should be too worn out regardless of when the matches were played! I saw people in jackets so this should be a good contest with Sasha already having success in Rome over Nole; though he was under-par and has been for over a year!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Sasha's baseline game is quite stead (almost like that of Novak). So, Roger should not try to indulge in toe-to-toe baseline attrition wars with him. Roger should do lot of "serve and volley", "chip and charge" and "SABR moves" to get it done effectively and quickly.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

After having seen Roger thrash Zverev at Halle, should I be too worried? This court is slower perhaps but he should be able to adjust his game and execute an aggressive game. He has been fresh at least.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Then Roger has to be the favourite to end no. 1 in the rankings.

If Roger wins Montreal, he will be trailing Rafa by just 10 pts. However, from Cincy to the end of year, Roger has 0 points to defend
whereas Rafa has 370 points to defend. So, really speaking Roger can afford to perform weaker than Rafa during the rest of the
year (but restrict it to no more than 360) and still end up as YE #1.

 

[mrzz]

As everyone knows, if Federer wins he gets to just 10 points between him and Nadal. The interesting part is that, with Murray´s withdrawal (in fact it would be the same with Murray on the tournament if Nadal and Federer would end up in different sides of the draw), Federer and Nadal may battle for the #1 spot if they meet in the final. I wonder how many times it happened before, two players who are not the current #1 fighting for it in a match, let alone in a final. In fact, how many times Fedal have played with #1 directly on the line?