2018 Aussie Open

[wood20ks]

Keys need to stop getting embarrassed when she loses. Stephens did it to her at the Open in September and now this. At least compete. Lose 6-4 6-4 & I'll have no complaints

So I take it Madison Keys lost.........?

She is a local favorite here.............Sorry to hear that.

 

[cezero]

@cezero, earlier in this thread, you talked about players style of play you liked.

What did you think of Jim Courier as a player?

i loved and tried to emulate his inside out forehand. underrated serve. great mover.

amazing fitness, and a tricky dropshot to read, again, underrated.

more interesting overall to me than players like halep and hewitt, but i appreciate them because they were damn hard workers.

 

[cezero]

It's funny to think that FED has beaten Del Potro 2x at the FO, but lost to him 2x at the USO.

I would have thought it was the other way around.

del potro isn't a great mover, and he hits a very flat ball which bounces extra low on clay and never bothers fed's backhand, and all that dirt makes it move a little slower. heavy topspin is what has killed fed on clay more than anything because it makes the ball explode off the clay more than any other surface.

hard courts are easily del potro's best suface, especially the US open which has a slightly higher bounce than the aussie open surface...more balls in the big man's strike zone. only a few guys have ever been able to just overpower fed, and del potro is one of them.

 

[Smart]

It's funny to think that FED has beaten Del Potro 2x at the FO, but lost to him 2x at the USO.

I would have thought it was the other way around.

I still remember how stick to my stomach I was when DelPo was up 2 sets to 1 on Fed in the French Open semis in 2009. Those two sets are debatably the two the most important of Fed's career.

But prime Fed was an amazing clay courter. I think people forget that he won 34(!) straight French Open matches against people not named Nadal.

 

[bksballer89]

So I take it Madison Keys lost.........?

She is a local favorite here.............Sorry to hear that.

Correct but she had a good run. Just was disappointing to see how she went out. Didn't put up a fight

 

[Old Lion]

Looking at the projected new rankings, not a lot of huge movers/fallers in the top 25 but Edmund jumps 23 spots to 26, Chung jumps 29 spots to 29, and Sandgren jumps 42 spots to 55.

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.

 

[bksballer89]

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.

Yep I don't think Sandgren is here to stay.

Chung should be top 15 or so by Wimbledon if he keeps this up.

 

[Hs0022]

John McEnroe says he doesn't think FED will play Roland Garros.

I hope he does.

If he doesn't play any of the events before, that's ok. Rankings don't matter. I just want to see him healthy and competing.

It's nice to be able to see all of Federer's versatility, and sometimes he can show even more on clay.

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

 

[Hs0022]

Fed's main focus should be Wimby from here on.

 

[bksballer89]

Fed's main focus should be Wimby from here on.

I disagree

 

[Old Lion]

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

I agree as well. Nothing wrong with playing 3 majors spaced well apart. He can cherry pick the rest too. They should probably move the clay championships to someplace warmer and play them a few weeks earlier anyway.

 

[cezero]

Fed might run into trouble with withdrawing from more Masters 1000 events this year.

He gets to skip 3 MS 1000 events because of his time on tour, matches won, and age.

BUT, if he skips any this year that he also skipped last year, it will have to be because of an injury or something else to avoid penalty.

Reduction of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Commitment, 1.08(C)
A player may not use his commitment reduction to withdraw from an event if he withdrew in any manner (including a late withdrawal or an on-site withdrawal) from the same event the previous year.

2018 ATP Official Rulebook | ATP World Tour | Tennis

 

[cezero]

Aside from any penalties he might have to face, which probably don't factor into his decisions at all, Fed "should" do whatever he thinks best prepares him to win the most majors possible.

If he thinks playing a bunch of clay events and the French Open will give him a strong chance of boosting his grand slam total by the end of the year, then he'll play a bunch of clay events and the French Open.

He can judge better than anybody on here what his energy, fitness level, and health status is, and how trying to play 2 slams on opposite surfaces in a month's time will help or hinder his ability to contend at majors for the rest of the year.

Period.

I'm betting he skips most of the clay season again this year. Lots more players are using the bazooka strings and racquets to hit with topspin on clay similar to Nadal's. Batting backhands up around his ears for 2-3 hours at a time isn't going to have much positive effect on Fed, lol.

 

[nuraman00]

del potro is not a clay courter.

But he's still to 1 SF and 1 QF of Roland Garros.

if not for nadal, federer probably has a boatload of FO's too.

Right. But we're talking about Del Potro.

He's gotten deep in the FO a few times, which to me shows he can play on clay.

I also think taller players can use a kick serve to make the ball bounce high, and they like the high bounce too. See Soderling.

As for Federer, I think if he keeps facing Nadal at the FO, I think he can beat him one of those times.

The more chances he gives himself, one of those results will go his way.

Otherwise, 2012 when he lost to Djokovic in the SF, or 2015 when he lost to Wawrinka (and Nadal didn't make the Finals), were probably some other good chances. I'll say that in 2010, if Fed would have gotten to the Finals, he would have still lost. Nadal was too good that year.

 

[nuraman00]

Looking at the projected new rankings, not a lot of huge movers/fallers in the top 25 but Edmund jumps 23 spots to 26, Chung jumps 29 spots to 29, and Sandgren jumps 42 spots to 55.

What's the biggest jump in history after someone plays a major?

 

[nuraman00]

So I take it Madison Keys lost.........?

She is a local favorite here.............Sorry to hear that.

Nice to see support for tennis.

 

[desert heat]

Right. But we're talking about Del Potro.

He's gotten deep in the FO a few times, which to me shows he can play on clay.

I also think taller players can use a kick serve to make the ball bounce high, and they like the high bounce too. See Soderling.

As for Federer, I think if he keeps facing Nadal at the FO, I think he can beat him one of those times.

The more chances he gives himself, one of those results will go his way.

Otherwise, 2012 when he lost to Djokovic in the SF, or 2015 when he lost to Wawrinka (and Nadal didn't make the Finals), were probably some other good chances. I'll say that in 2010, if Fed would have gotten to the Finals, he would have still lost. Nadal was too good that year.

del potro's better surface is the hard courts where he can attack with hs booming serve and groundstrokes, and hit winners.

federer on the other has won the french, and been deep into it several times.

 

[nuraman00]

i loved and tried to emulate his inside out forehand. underrated serve. great mover.

amazing fitness, and a tricky dropshot to read, again, underrated.

more interesting overall to me than players like halep and hewitt, but i appreciate them because they were damn hard workers.

Hmm, I don't remember his drop shot. I'll have to watch for it.

I only saw his losses to Edberg at the 1991 USO, and his loss to Sampras at the 1993 Wimbledon Finals. Also his won vs. Connors in the 1991 USO SF.

I never saw his wins when he was playing. But I liked his movement.

I did watch his 1991 FO Finals against Agassi last summer on tennis channel replay. I don't remember drop shots then.

 

[nuraman00]

del potro isn't a great mover, and he hits a very flat ball which bounces extra low on clay and never bothers fed's backhand, and all that dirt makes it move a little slower. heavy topspin is what has killed fed on clay more than anything because it makes the ball explode off the clay more than any other surface.

hard courts are easily del potro's best suface, especially the US open which has a slightly higher bounce than the aussie open surface...more balls in the big man's strike zone. only a few guys have ever been able to just overpower fed, and del potro is one of them.

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?

 

[nuraman00]

I still remember how stick to my stomach I was when DelPo was up 2 sets to 1 on Fed in the French Open semis in 2009. Those two sets are debatably the two the most important of Fed's career.

But prime Fed was an amazing clay courter. I think people forget that he won 34(!) straight French Open matches against people not named Nadal.

Yeah. When I was watching on the DVR in 2009, I texted a friend about how FED was playing like crap. This was when he was down 2 sets to 1.

The friend responded, "Swing away, Roger."

I continued watching to see FED make the come back.

His comeback against Haas was also critical.

FED could not read Haas serve for most of the match, Haas was hitting the corners well.