Qatar/Brisbane/Chennai

First topic message reminder :

Finally, the wait is over.  The new tennis season is starting tomorrow in Brisbane, with Qatar and Chennai joining in on Monday.

Djokovic will not play until Melbourne, but Rafa, David and Andy are all in action in Qatar.  Other notables include Berdych, Davydenko, Gasquet, Gulbis and Monfils.

In Brisbane, Federer is the No 1 seed (he should enjoy it, there may not be many more tournaments like that).  Overall, the field is much weaker than in Qatar, with Nishikori seeded at No 2 and Simon at No 3.  Still, there are some interesting players to watch.  The field includes Grigorov, Duckworth and Kyrgios, as well as Cilic.

Chennai has the weakest field, with Wawrinka and Youzhny seeded at #1 and #2.  Vasek Pospisil (an ethnic Czech from Canada) and Jiri Vesely (an ethnic Czech from the Czech Republic) being the two youngsters to watch there.

Pretty sure even the top players tank every now and then.

If tank means deliberately throw a match, i.e. enter the match with an intent to lose, then I honestly don't believe Nadal would do that, even if WTF was around the corner. Ferrer played well vs Nadal at Paris (very) - he always does there - then a 2hr final vs Djokovic left him tired 2 days later vs Nadal. You might say that (playing at WTF the following week) was why Nadal tanked but Djokovic didnt tank vs Federer given he was playing WTF 2 days later...so why would Nadal? Oh hang on...don't tell me...Federer, like Nadal, tanked @ Paris right?

Some players on tour no doubt tank, but I don't believe the top 3-4 go into any in 500/Masters/Slam event match with a desire to deliberately lose. It's a complete anathema to their modus operandi and what got them to the top of the pile in the first place. I believe they would withdraw through 'injury' rather than go on court to throw a match.

OK - If tank means deliberately throw a match, then maybe not. If tank means not really bothered either way and if your opponent is playing well, then not trying to up your game, then very probably they all do that on occasion.

@LS.. Federer is playing back-to-back finals in Brisbane. Agree with Lydian that tanking can cause TIU (remember the Davydenko scandal) to be on your tail.

lydian wrote:If tank means deliberately throw a match, i.e. enter the match with an intent to lose, then I honestly don't believe Nadal would do that, even if WTF was around the corner. Ferrer played well vs Nadal at Paris (very) - he always does there - then a 2hr final vs Djokovic left him tired 2 days later vs Nadal. You might say that (playing at WTF the following week) was why Nadal tanked but Djokovic didnt tank vs Federer given he was playing WTF 2 days later...so why would Nadal? Oh hang on...don't tell me...Federer, like Nadal, tanked @ Paris right?

Some players on tour no doubt tank, but I don't believe the top 3-4 go into any in 500/Masters/Slam event match with a desire to deliberately lose. It's a complete anathema to their modus operandi and what got them to the top of the pile in the first place. I believe they would withdraw through 'injury' rather than go on court to throw a match.

For me Nadal tanked because he wanted to save everything he had for WTF, but wanted to get far enough to prevent djoko from taking the no1 spot.
Also I think he didn't want to give djoko a mental edge, by playing against him, (especially with nole's form) heading into their almost inevitable big show down at the 02.
I see tanking as just dropping those intensity levels ever so slightly. Not deliberately throwing a match by hitting the ball out, df's etc but just essentially not trying as hard or putting as much on the ball.
No I see Djoko wanted that no1 ranking and Feds got his first top 10 win of the year vs delpo and wanted to regain some much needed confidence and form, so he didn't tank either.
But like Amri said on OTF, in the past players I think tank when playing compatriots for example.

LuvSports! wrote:I think tank

You think tank?

Come on sentence rozzer it's late and i'm enjoying watching the film drive.

Great film isn't it LS.

Just awesome. Soundtrack is just epic!

I will never believe that Nadal would deliberately lose a match.. it is just not Rafa .. he hates to lose anything. As I have said before he wouldn´t lose against his own mother.  According to you LS a player can never have an "off day" Rafa has to play at the top of his game at all times.otherwise he is accused of tanking.. O do get real 

Fed gets it in 3, thought Chardy's service was superb. Fed's backhand is dead, service was fine and saved many times by aces.

Tomorrow a classic Fed-Hewitt, lets go back to 2003 old daddy!

Both Nadal and Federer into the finals. So 2014 starts as a Fedal one  

Maybe Brisbane was a 'weak era' reunion?   

Johnyjeep wrote:Maybe Brisbane was a 'weak era' reunion?   

Ouch!!

I like Hewitt. I know its a 4th tier event but to still make finals of a main tour competition at his age, with all his injury and operation woes is just remarkable I think. And when his name is banded about as evidence as to why it was 'weak' is not correct imo.

Johnyjeep wrote:I like Hewitt. I know its a 4th tier event but to still make finals of a main tour competition at his age, with all his injury and operation woes is just remarkable I think. And when his name is banded about as evidence as to why it was 'weak' is not correct imo.

Absolutely he is and has been a credit to the game.. and what a little aussie fighter he is... I wish him well.

Allez Vasselin! Beat that boring Spaniard

I think, if Hewitt stays fit enough for long enough, there's still a place in the top 32 for him, at least for another year or two. Arguably his injuries could help prolong his career like Tommy Haas as he'll have less "miles on the clock" than the others around his age.

Rafa breaks right away - 2:0

5:0 in 17 minutes.

Monfils at least avoids the bagel.

Rafa looking quite sharp so far today.

Nadal looks much...much...sharper today.

Yeah, he's looked good this week given it's his first event of the year. I thought Monfils might give him a game having seen his form this week but he isn't up to it so far.

I'm yet it see anything this year to suggest we are heading for anything other than Novak v. Rafa in the Oz Open final.

lydian wrote:Nadal looks much...much...sharper today.

Obviously not tanking it today Lydian 

Mhmm, a bit of a letdown.  Monfils dialed up his aggression in his first service game, so I was wondering how it would go on return, but we did not really get to see, as Rafa self-destructed in that game.

Haddie-nuff wrote:Obviously not tanking it today  Lydian 

Why do those tanking comments bother you so much?  I am sure they all tank at times, but even Rafa does not, so what if some people think he does?

This is more what I expected from Monfils. He has got the serve and forehand going now and no-one on earth would have an answer to the play in that game.

I'm not getting into the tank stuff because I think we all have different definitions of what tanking means...however, he seems to have the bit between his teeth today.

However, this match has just officially become weird. Monfils seems to be basically hitting it as hard as he can. The poor 1st service game by Nadal in the 2nd has given Monfils succour for sure. Surprised he lapsed concentration like that. Anyway....game on.

Wawrinka looks to be beating Pospisil on big point experience. Saved 9/9 Bps and taken 2 of 4 for a set and a break lead.

If Stan dies win then Monfils is the youngest finalist this week (aged 27).

I say that and Pospisil gets the break back. 4-4 in set 2.

Nadal not playing as well as in the first set, but Monfils has also improved; we may have a match after all.

The only thing is that I do not know that this all out hitting comes natural to Monfils, so not sure how long he can keep it up.

Pospisil retires 
Shame as the winner today will certainly lift the trophy tomorrow but
Vasik was hobbled and in increasing discomfort.

summerblues wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:Obviously not tanking it today  Lydian 

Why do those tanking comments bother you so much?  I am sure they all tank at times, but even Rafa does not, so what if some people think he does?

Well why bother to comment on it sb.. best ignored if thats what you think.

Monfils takes the set! ALLEZ!

tight stuff nadal from 0-40 to deuce

Everyone tanks sometimes, its human nature. The England cricket team for example has been tanking for 2 months, it doesnt mean theyre suddenly bad, just utterly zonked

oooohh, it was out and Monfils didnt challenge it in time, is that the turning point?

In the end, this was a pretty good match.  Rafa is the first tournament winner of the year and takes an early lead in the 2014 Race.

Yup, well done to Nadal. A good few workouts in the end for him, match practice is always good - he'll be happy with his work this week.

Are we going to see the three top seeded players win this week, despite the upsets that we've seen? Probably...

Looking likely Silver. Good match to watch, both brilliant in patches, both error strewn too. On balance Rafa deserved to win overall for title #61 on a fast hard court to boot. That's 16 HC titles now, 11 of which are Masters/Slams/OG...not bad going for a 'claycourter'. Actually the quality of his 61 titles is quite staggering when you consider 54 out of the 61 are 500 level or higher (40 are Masters or higher). Would be interesting to compare the relative points total of title wins for guys across the past 20-30 years - would Nadal be higher than Federer...not sure he has a lot more titles and 4 x 2000 more slam points. I bet its close though...although arguably so what...one for the purists, lol. Anyway, the result augurs well for both with fast (if reports are to be believed) AO coming up.

With the strongest field of all 3 tournies, Rafa's is the most impressive (if feds and stan the man win, touch wood!).

Have they speeded up the courts in Melbourne then? That's interesting. Music to Roger's ears. I saw some of his match today and he seemed to be getting a bit more juice on his shots. I didn't know until the commentators mentioned it, but he's tried the bigger racquet again in Brisbane, obviously quite successfully.

Be intersting to see how he would get on against either of the top 2 with a few more mph on his shots, and on a faster court.

^ according to Roger Rasheed (on twitter) they're slower than Brisbane  

LuvSports! wrote:With the strongest field of all 3 tournies, Rafa's is the most impressive (if feds and stan the man win, touch wood!).

Certainly the field in Doha was by a mile the strongest one, but Rafa's draw opened up reasonably well, so in the end he did not have to play anyone overly difficult either.

Danny_1982 wrote:Have they speeded up the courts in Melbourne then? That's interesting. Music to Roger's ears. I saw some of his match today and he seemed to be getting a bit more juice on his shots.

For one, he served 20 aces.  And with that a bit of trivia:  When do you think was the last time Roger served at least 20 aces in a match?  Approximate guesses are welcome.

Well, the courts were playing very fast as well from the bits I saw... But 20 aces a match is quite a number.

His highest since, at a guess, 2006??

I'd say the last time he served 20 aces was the 2009 Wimbledon final - 50+ I think?

Danny, Slippy:  No, it is not that far back.

I would've thought it would be fairly recently, probably 2011 or 2012. Let's go with...FO'11, against Wawrinka (random guess).