2018 Aussie Open

[nuraman00]

Sandgren had 1 good tourney. It would not surprise me to see him drop out of the top 100 again. Chung looks like the real deal to me. He could be top 10. Edmund is solid too. I think they will stick around.

Agree.

I do hope Sandgren can continue this though. I am not as optimistic. He was fun to watch.

Edmund has good power.

He also played well at beat Isner at the 2016 USO.

 

[cezero]

What's the difference between Del Potro and Soderling at the FO?

Or did Soderling just have 1 great match in 2010 against FED, and it was unlikely to be reproduced in future years?

Soderling hit with spin on both sides.

Del Potro's shots are all flat as a pancake, and stay right where Fed likes them on clay. Same with any big flat hitter.

The clay rewards topspin.

Del Potro's serves are also flat, and he relies on them for free points/aces.

Aces are a lot harder to come by on clay, so that's a bunch of points he misses out on. It's why the most successful servers at the French are topspin servers. The ball explodes off the court.

Soderling's serve doesn't have quite as much pace as Delpo's, but again, he adds heavy topspin to his serves, which gets rewarded on clay.

Del Potro moves well for a big guy, but Soderling was a better mover on clay.

Federer has a hard time dealing with heavy topspin forehands to his backhand side. With one hand, it's like trying to hit softballs when they're up that high. If you look at Fed's clay losses, it's usually to people with heavy forehands who attack his backhand 95% of the time. Most of the time, the winner of the FO has a dynamite inside out topspin forehand, too. Great for attacking weak backhands, both 1 and 2 handed.

 

[Old Lion]

Soderling hit with spin on both sides.

Del Potro's shots are all flat as a pancake, and stay right where Fed likes them on clay. Same with any big flat hitter.

The clay rewards topspin.

Del Potro's serves are also flat, and he relies on them for free points/aces.

Aces are a lot harder to come by on clay, so that's a bunch of points he misses out on. It's why the most successful servers at the French are topspin servers. The ball explodes off the court.

Soderling's serve doesn't have quite as much pace as Delpo's, but again, he adds heavy topspin to his serves, which gets rewarded on clay.

Del Potro moves well for a big guy, but Soderling was a better mover on clay.

Federer has a hard time dealing with heavy topspin forehands to his backhand side. With one hand, it's like trying to hit softballs when they're up that high. If you look at Fed's clay losses, it's usually to people with heavy forehands who attack his backhand 95% of the time. Most of the time, the winner of the FO has a dynamite inside out topspin forehand, too. Great for attacking weak backhands, both 1 and 2 handed.

Coincidentally the same can be said for Nadal. Even with a 2 hander he hits relatively flat and has a lower strike zone then most guys with a 2 hander. When he plays a lefty (or vs Fabrini's crazy backhand) on clay he struggles as well.

 

[nuraman00]

I support JMac. Fed should skip the FO only. he should play a few of the clay events just for the points like Madrid, Italian open, and Monte Carlo. madrid because he is strong there, and the other two he has never won. He already has a FO

Lol, I would have given FED the reverse advise.

Because Majors are more important than Masters 1000.

It would be cool though to see anyone with all of the Masters 1000s.

Federer has won 7/9, not winning Monte Carlo or Rome.

Djokovic has won 8/9, missing out on Cincinnati. He's been to 5 Cincinnati Finals though, losing to Federer 3x and Murray 2x.

Nadal has won 7/9, missing out on Miami and Paris. Nadal has been to 5 Miami Finals, losing to Federer 2x, Davydenko, and Djokovic 2x.

He's made 1 Paris Finals in 2007, losing to Nalbandian.

Agassi has won 7/9, missing out on Monte Carlo and Madrid.

Sampras won 5/9, missing out on Monte Carlo, Madrid, Canada, and Madrid (hard) /Shanghai.

He did make the 1995 Canada Finals, losing to Agassi.

Murray has won 7/9, missing out on Indian Wells and Monte Carlo.

He did make the 2009 Indian Wells Finals, losing to Nadal.

 

[nuraman00]

I still don't like FED facing big servers on grass. It's hard to break them sometimes.

On hard courts, he can get returns in play and get the point started. Or hit unreturnable returns.

He's handled them ok so far in his career, but it's hard to react to those serves, IMO. Any compromise in his movement and he can't return them.

The Cilic or Raonic types scare me on grass for him.

Federer almost lost to Alejandro Falla at the 2010 Wimbledon, going down 0 - 2 sets because he couldn't return his serve.

 

[nuraman00]

Are there any stats, like return position, which shows what FED's return position has been over the years?

The TV broadcast shows that sometimes, when comparing someone's position from one tourney to the next.

But I'm curious if we can see a yearly stat or visual of what a player did that year. Not just for one tournament, but the average for all tournaments that year.

 

[Hs0022]

Fed should just play enough clay to maintain his seeding for Wimby so he comes in at top seed.

 

[nuraman00]

In some ways, I think playing the FO will be easier than a Masters 1000. Because in a Masters 1000, he'll be more likely to run into people who look forward to that surface.

In the FO, the draw will be more random, like any other major. So he will be less likely to run into those players, and those players may be eliminated by other top players beforehand too.

 

[nuraman00]

Are there any stats, like return position, which shows what FED's return position has been over the years?

The TV broadcast shows that sometimes, when comparing someone's position from one tourney to the next.

But I'm curious if we can see a yearly stat or visual of what a player did that year. Not just for one tournament, but the average for all tournaments that year.

Part of the reason for this question, is I want to know, is FED taking the ball earlier than before?

If so, when did it happen? Did it coincide with a coaching change? Return from injury? Other?

 

[nuraman00]

 

[ill]

Part of the reason for this question, is I want to know, is FED taking the ball earlier than before?

If so, when did it happen? Did it coincide with a coaching change? Return from injury? Other?

I think he started attacking the ball on the rise back in 2016, giving his opponents less time to react to his shots by a few seconds, but it seems to be doing the trick. He was playing well inside the baseline and attacking serves like that. It was weird and is hard as hell to do right, but he was seeing results.

I think it all stems from his SABR (Sneak Attack By Roger) thing.

I love that acronym

Federer wielding SABR with devastating effect

 

[nuraman00]

I think he started attacking the ball on the rise back in 2016, giving his opponents less time to react to his shots by a few seconds, but it seems to be doing the trick. He was playing well inside the baseline and attacking serves like that. It was weird and is hard as hell to do right, but he was seeing results.

I think it all stems from his SABR (Sneak Attack By Roger) thing.

I love that acronym

Federer wielding SABR with devastating effect

He didn't seem to do the SABR after his return from injury. That seemed to be an Edberg thing they tried in 2015 (and I thought it worked).

If he is indeed attacking it earlier (and I wish there was some return position data we could see), he's not getting balls blown by him either. I don't see a decrease in returned balls. So it seems like he might be returning it sooner, without compromising his percentage of returned balls.

 

[Hs0022]

Fact: Novak Djokovic did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.
Fact: Rafael Nadal did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.

 

[bksballer89]

Fact: Novak Djokovic did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.
Fact: Rafael Nadal did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.

Why do they need to? Did the other 700 players congratulate him also?

 

[Hs0022]

They should have been among the first to congratulate Roger. This was no ordinary accomplishment. He was the first man to go where only women have gone before. ESPN has this crazy notion that Fed is catching up with Court, Steffi and Serena. Those dumbasses are the reason why men’s tennis is suffering in the US. Their lack of comprehension about the men’s game.

 

[ill]

Fact: Novak Djokovic did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.
Fact: Rafael Nadal did not congratulate Fed on his AO win.

I wouldn't be surprised if they texted him.

why does it need to be a public congratulations?

 

[Hs0022]

I am sure they texted him and asked him to maintain secrecy so the world wouldn’t know.

 

[bksballer89]

I wouldn't be surprised if they texted him.

why does it need to be a public congratulations?

Lol exactly

 

[desert heat]

I wouldn't be surprised if they texted him.

why does it need to be a public congratulations?

yup, and it isn't like its the first time federer ever won a slam.

 

[cezero]

Nadal and Fed have vacationed together. They're not just friendly, they're friends.

Given how much Fed has made it clear that he finds Djokovic and his family obnoxious, I doubt they text, lol.