US Open, Flushing Meadows, NY USA - Grand Slam (Men)

GameSetAndMath

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When Rafa wins this joke of a USO, Roger would be dumb not to pack it in for the year. He'd be down over 1800 points so he'd basically need to win Shanghai, Basel, and YEC just to come close. Even if Rafa somehow loses to Del Po I wouldn't mind seeing Roger think ahead for once and rest for the year but I doubt he would do that.

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If Roger is physical 100% or close to it, he should play the rest of the year. If not, he should not play. The decision should not have much to do with #1 situation. I would not recommend him to shut it down even if he is fit. I think if he wins one more YEC, that will be a record. It is a good opportunity this year to do so, if he recovers in time.
 
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GameSetAndMath

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As Fed told in the interview, he was not playing at a high level and so was sure to lose once he runs into some one semi-decent player.
This was actually obvious to viewers in the entire Montreal tournament. Fed was sucking big time, but the opponents let him get away
with a win until the finals. In USO, again the situation was obvious in the first two rounds. Then there was a false hope raised by
the Feliciano match. Against Kohly, Fed did not really play that good even though he won in straight sets.

Anyway, I think Fed should make a clear rule from now on that he plays only when he is fully fit (or fairly close to it) and with proper preparation only. As he can pick and choose the tourneys for the rest of his career, it should be possible to follow this rule.
 
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Moxie

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Are Nadal and Federer destined to never play each other at US Open?
Sadly, I now think so.
I still would have loved to see Fedal at the US Open. It's unfortunate that we're not getting it IMO but I can see why someone who's not a fan of either guy wouldn't want to see it.

I don't think Rafa vs. DP is nearly the gimme Fed fans are making it out to be for Rafa. I think it's close to 50/50. Del Potro's cross court forehand will really trouble Nadal.

I haven't yet had a chance to watch Rafa's match against Rublev, and hope that shows a better level, but in any case, I agree that del Potro could cause Rafa loads of problems.
 

DarthFed

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It's not about who he played mate. He wasn't moving around with the same fluidity or hitting his backhand with the same authority. If you'll remember I made that observation at the time. I'm not saying that he wasn't good, but he didn't have to bring out TMF. TMF went on holiday in late March and hasn't been seen since, probably hiking in the Alps. This Roger fella can play tennis, but not like TMF

I do agree that Federer was strongest through Miami, he had to be to win tournaments on slow/medium hard. It will always be easier for him to win on grass where he can be average and still is the favorite to win them. I actually think people have overrated his movement all year. He didn't win AO, IW and Miami because he was suddenly moving like he was 25, he was winning those tourneys with brutally efficient aggressive play off of every shot. He barely was having to move because he was taking control of the points early and ending them quickly on his terms.

But I still think his level was quite high at Wimbledon, he was serving well and still consistently attacking the return. After Wimbledon he has just done everything a lot worse and has been passive off the backhand and the ROS. The result is that he has done a ton more moving and defending than he did earlier in the year and obviously that's not what he wants to be doing at age 36.
 
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DarthFed

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If Roger is physical 100% or close to it, he should play the rest of the year. If not, he should not play. The decision should not have much to do with #1 situation. I would not recommend him to shut it down even if he is fit. I think if he wins one more YEC, that will be a record. It is a good opportunity this year to do so, if he recovers in time.

We will agree to disagree. The main reason to play this Fall, especially after an injury, is if he is going for #1. While Fed does already hold the record with 6 YEC's another would be nice to put more distance between himself and Nole. But I'd be fine with him not playing again until YEC assuming Nadal wins USO. And even then I'd say only play YEC if he is 100% or damn close.
 

GameSetAndMath

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There is still a chance that Rojer can win this USO. :D

Playing against Lopez brothers in finals!
 

GameSetAndMath

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Latest odds for winning USO (after SFs are set).

1. Rafa 3/5
2. JMDP 7/2
3. Anderson 13/2
4. PCB 18

Approximately, Rafa 63%, Delpo 22%, Anderson 10% and PCB 5%.
 

kskate2

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USO Order of Play for SF Friday, September 8, 2017
ZNbFkx0.png
 

brokenshoelace

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Lol! This could be a turnaround. BS defending Roger against his fans. I'm just saying that he didn't play at a great level. We can call it luck or good fortune, but had he met anyone playing at a really high level things might have been different. Perhaps he could have raised his level, there's that argument, but I can't see how anyone can argue that he was playing at the sort of level that's been required in recent times. Fair play to him, he won. But it just feels like he got away with one there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just saying this was no where near the level he was playing at near the beginning of the year

Haha, no but seriously, it's not about defending Roger (I don't think I ever "attacked" him as there's not much to attack). I agree that he didn't show any jaw-dropping levels of tennis on his way to winning it, but not dropping a set, on grass no less, without having to play jaw-dropping tennis is pretty convincing in my mind. You're right that he had no competition that tournament as nobody really played all that well and the players who might have been threats didn't deliver (but you could say the same about Nadal at RG, and nobody's saying he's lucky to win it) but Roger is so much better than these guys on grass that saying he's lucky is an insult to him.

To me, I think Roger for the first 6 months of the year had been more or less flawless with the exception of that weird Haas loss. He obviously was phenomenal throughout AO-IW-Miami, took the clay season off, returned on grass, had that one weird loss, won Halle and then won Wimbledon easily. Doesn't get much better than that. So even if his level at Wimnledon was not quite as pleasing to watch I'd lump it with his run at the beginning of the year because if you win a major without dropping a set, you're doing something right.
 

Federberg

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Haha, no but seriously, it's not about defending Roger (I don't think I ever "attacked" him as there's not much to attack). I agree that he didn't show any jaw-dropping levels of tennis on his way to winning it, but not dropping a set, on grass no less, without having to play jaw-dropping tennis is pretty convincing in my mind. You're right that he had no competition that tournament as nobody really played all that well and the players who might have been threats didn't deliver (but you could say the same about Nadal at RG, and nobody's saying he's lucky to win it) but Roger is so much better than these guys on grass that saying he's lucky is an insult to him.

To me, I think Roger for the first 6 months of the year had been more or less flawless with the exception of that weird Haas loss. He obviously was phenomenal throughout AO-IW-Miami, took the clay season off, returned on grass, had that one weird loss, won Halle and then won Wimbledon easily. Doesn't get much better than that. So even if his level at Wimnledon was not quite as pleasing to watch I'd lump it with his run at the beginning of the year because if you win a major without dropping a set, you're doing something right.

I don't really disagree with anything you've said mate. On it's face Roger's performance at Wimbledon was super-impressive. I guess I'm just saying that judging his play by what we saw earlier in the year he didn't have to do that much. That's not on him, it's on everyone else which is where I see it as lucky or good fortune that everyone else was so poor. My larger point is that the super high level from the first few months of the year hasn't been seen since then. Am I disappointed by what's happened in the US Open? Hell yeah... (although I love Delpo, so I'm less gutted than I should be) but was it really realistic that he was going to go to the next slam and get away with not having to raise his level back to the stratosphere again? No.. that would have been freakish and a terrible indictment of men's tennis at the moment. I think a lot of us have already been a bit negative about the state of competition this year...
 

the AntiPusher

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A
The key thing in the Delpo-Nadal match, strangely, might be Delpo's serve. Perennially thought as someone who ought to serve bigger given his height, I thought Delpo served amazing vs Fed. He was 84% on first serves overall and 91% of first serve pts won in the final set. That is stunning against Federer. Keep in mind that Federer's ROS is generally better than Nadal's.

So if Delpo serves lights out and does the 1-2 punch with his forehand, he will be hard to stop. Nadal would have to return way better and make sure he absolutely makes Delpo pay everytime Delpo slices the ball on the backhand.

I haven't generally been impressed by Nadal's forehand this tournament ( really all summer after Wimbledon). He will need to make sure his cross court forehand is firing and placed deep and away from the middle of the court. He has to be able to spread the court and move Delpo around. Any short balls, Delpo will pulverize them.

Overall, Rafa would have to play his best match in this tournament to win. He would need to cut down on the UFEs and recover some of the form he showed on clay and grass this year. Otherwise Delpo might get another Fedal scalp in one tournament. There is a reason Fed ( who has a great h2h against Delpo ) lost.
Rafa h
The key thing in the Delpo-Nadal match, strangely, might be Delpo's serve. Perennially thought as someone who ought to serve bigger given his height, I thought Delpo served amazing vs Fed. He was 84% on first serves overall and 91% of first serve pts won in the final set. That is stunning against Federer. Keep in mind that Federer's ROS is generally better than Nadal's.

So if Delpo serves lights out and does the 1-2 punch with his forehand, he will be hard to stop. Nadal would have to return way better and make sure he absolutely makes Delpo pay everytime Delpo slices the ball on the backhand.

I haven't generally been impressed by Nadal's forehand this tournament ( really all summer after Wimbledon). He will need to make sure his cross court forehand is firing and placed deep and away from the middle of the court. He has to be able to spread the court and move Delpo around. Any short balls, Delpo will pulverize them.

Overall, Rafa would have to play his best match in this tournament to win. He would need to cut down on the UFEs and recover some of the form he showed on clay and grass this year. Otherwise Delpo might get another Fedal scalp in one tournament. There is a reason Fed ( who has a great h2h against Delpo ) lost.
Good stuff imjimmy..

BB..maybe this post needs to moved over to the Rafa/Delpo semifinal thread
 

herios

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Congrats to Rojer and Tecau for winning their second GS title together
 
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Denis

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Congrats to Rojer and Tecau for winning their second GS title together
It was really fun to watch! Blistering volleys and deserved winners. Clutch stuff from tecau in the second.
 
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Moxie

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I don't know if any one else noticed this. I didn't. Fabio Fognini was sanctioned in this singles match at the USO for calling the umpire, essentially a "whore" in Italian, and was forced to default his doubles match, after. He's facing even banishment from future grand slam events. He was fined, but the fines could get heftier. Did everyone else miss this?
 

Fiero425

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I don't know if any one else noticed this. I didn't. Fabio Fognini was sanctioned in this singles match at the USO for calling the umpire, essentially a "whore" in Italian, and was forced to default his doubles match, after. He's facing even banishment from future grand slam events. He was fined, but the fines could get heftier. Did everyone else miss this?

I think I heard that at the recap of the Youzhny match! I didn't follow it up when I heard F3 during the tournament and hadn't heard he was disqualified from his doubles' match! I haven't paid any attention to doubles in years and if not for Hingis wouldn't care! I just don't know most of these so called top players who do so poorly in singles you never see them after the 1st round even if they manage to get into a main draw! :nono: :facepalm: :banghead: :rolleyes:
 

GameSetAndMath

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I don't know if any one else noticed this. I didn't. Fabio Fognini was sanctioned in this singles match at the USO for calling the umpire, essentially a "whore" in Italian, and was forced to default his doubles match, after. He's facing even banishment from future grand slam events. He was fined, but the fines could get heftier. Did everyone else miss this?

No, there was talk about it here as well. Actually, they waited for 4 or 5 days before banning him from this GS. During that time he actually played and won two doubles matches, getting pts and money. There may be further sanctions to him at AO. But, as ITF and ATP are separate, these don't affect him during the remainder of the season.
 

Moxie

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I was on a mad job, so I must have missed it. It seems the fallout is going to be how much he eventually gets fined, and how much they decide to keep him out of GS events, right?
 

GameSetAndMath

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I was on a mad job, so I must have missed it. It seems the fallout is going to be how much he eventually gets fined, and how much they decide to keep him out of GS events, right?

IIRC, he got fined $24,000 or so. Didn't look up just now though.

I think they will let it go and there will be no more punishment.