ATP 500 Basel 2011

After a long pre off-season season, a week of delicious tennis is upon us.

The field is studded with top hard-courters lead by The Best, the In-Hot-Form and the Goat, formerly known as the local ball-boy.

Also in Basel we have: Berdych, Wawrinka, Fish, Tispsarevic, Roddick, Ljubicic.

The tournament sounds great on paper, and it's a shame we are missing French players Tsonga and Monfils.

The big question has been answered: Federer falls in Murray's half (cooo, I must say that sounds weird...)

The draw:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2011/328/mds.pdf


Matches start tomorrow, with the "big" names probably starting on Tuesday, Nole's first match against Malisse starts at 17.30.

Order of play (the final) for Sunday, 6th of November

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2011/328/op.pdf


Provided he continues where he stopped in September form-wise, Nole should get through his half safely. The juicy question is: who will be on the other side of the net this time next week?

this means murray will win this beating fed and nole.

Gutsy prediction, DiiNh.

I think this will be a good yardstick as to where Andy is at the moment. However, if we are to believe some people Federer won't be trying hard and neither will Djokovic so who knows eh?

Fed and Murray in Final, Djoko will be out in round 1 or 2 because he needs to save himself for London and blame it to injury. Organizers happy to have gathered top players and sell tickets. Check in the post.

Jahu wrote:Fed and Murray in Final, Djoko will be out in round 1 or 2 because he needs to save himself for London and blame it to injury.

Not possible I am afraid as Roger Federer is scheduled to meet Andy Murray in the semi-finals if they both get that far.

Jahu wrote:Fed and Murray in Final, Djoko will be out in round 1 or 2 because he needs to save himself for London and blame it to injury. Organizers happy to have gathered top players and sell tickets. Check in the post.

They are in the same half though.

laverfan wrote:

Jahu wrote:Fed and Murray in Final, Djoko will be out in round 1 or 2 because he needs to save himself for London and blame it to injury. Organizers happy to have gathered top players and sell tickets. Check in the post.

They are in the same half though.

It doesn't matter! Fed will still play Murray in the final

Order of play out for tomorrow, Fed's out against Starace .

CENTER COURT
Matches Start At: 14:45
1
Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP)
vs
Viktor TROICKI (SRB)

OPENING CEREMONY

Not Before 18:30
3 Potito STARACE (ITA)vs
Roger FEDERER (SUI)
followed by
4 Jurgen MELZER (AUT)vs
Donald YOUNG (USA)

Greets from Basel. Since I've bought tickets long before the draw, and Tuesday is Djokovic playing and should be boring, I am offering a free ticket worth 139 CHF for Tuesday.

Easyjet has morning IN evening OUT to Basel , so if anyone fancy seeing some tennis PM me soon. Will meet the person at Mulhouse Airport as I will be taking wife and baby to Geneva on Tuesday.

Jahu wrote:Greets from Basel. Since I've bought tickets long before the draw, and Tuesday is Djokovic playing and should be boring, I am offering a free ticket worth 139 CHF for Tuesday.

Easyjet has morning IN evening OUT to Basel , so if anyone fancy seeing some tennis PM me soon. Will meet the person at Mulhouse Airport as I will be taking wife and baby to Geneva on Tuesday.

Thanks for the generous offer, but I won't be going aback to Switzerland in this lifetime. Next time you go to Manor, do have a slice of that awesome apple cake (the one with the nuts at the top) for me....

I did go to Basel last year (in August) and roamed around the city trying to find out what the city has done to honor the majestic Fed. Surprisingly not much - only a small Hall of Fame honor plate finding which took me hours.

Clicked few snaps which I proudly display on my social media accounts!! How I wish Jahu to be able to take this offer - my bad luck

I could not find any streams on LSH for Basel. Does anyone know when TV coverage starts for Basel?

There are no corresponding streams which match this...

http://www.swissindoorsbasel.ch/TV-broadcast.656+M52087573ab0.0.html

laverfan wrote:I could not find any streams on LSH for Basel. Does anyone know when TV coverage starts for Basel?

There are no corresponding streams which match this...

http://www.swissindoorsbasel.ch/TV-broadcast.656+M52087573ab0.0.html

I think I read somewhere that it won't be until Thursday!

Thanks SL.

I was wondering if Andy Murray has an ulterior motive in asking for/accepting a wild card for Basel; I‘m glad he has and it does make for an interesting tournament with 3 of the top 4 in it. It may well be that he simply sees himself in good form and having a good run and fancies his chances against the other two. But as so much of sport is played in the mind I wonder if he making a point (posturing?) to Federer particularly by taking from him the no. 2 seed in (effectively) his home tournament? I think this is the first opportunity Murray has had, since overtaking Federer, to start a tournament seeded higher and with it being is Switzerland it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

Murray may as well make the most of his excellent late-season form. Just hope he doesn't wear himself out. The really big points are in the 02 Arena yr-end champs. No point in winning Basel (500 points) when he could get 1,000 or even 1,500 pts in London. Also Paris is a 1,000er and you could argue it would have been better to concentrate on that.

Agreed, which is why I suspect he’s seen this opportunity and entered as a little bit (and sorry for the pun, given that it’s Halloween and all) of devilment

Now the Federer-Starace match is listed on LSH.

If Murray enters as wildcard how come he be ranked no.2 seed? do wildcards be ranked in a tournament? or its just a special case here?

invisiblecoolers wrote:If Murray enters as wildcard how come he be ranked no.2 seed? do wildcards be ranked in a tournament? or its just a special case here?

No idea, but reckon he's determined to keep number 3 ranking for the year end.

sportslover wrote:

laverfan wrote:I could not find any streams on LSH for Basel. Does anyone know when TV coverage starts for Basel?

There are no corresponding streams which match this...

http://www.swissindoorsbasel.ch/TV-broadcast.656+M52087573ab0.0.html

I think I read somewhere that it won't be until Thursday!

I just had a look on Tennistv, it starts tomorrow.

noleisthebest wrote:

invisiblecoolers wrote:If Murray enters as wildcard how come he be ranked no.2 seed? do wildcards be ranked in a tournament? or its just a special case here?

No idea, but reckon he's determined to keep number 3 ranking for the year end.

Thats a good sign, he is starting to believe that he can be numero uno too, thanks to Nole's splendid run this year, now everything seems possibility in tennis.

bradman99.94 wrote:I was wondering if Andy Murray has an ulterior motive in asking for/accepting a wild card for Basel; I‘m glad he has and it does make for an interesting tournament with 3 of the top 4 in it. It may well be that he simply sees himself in good form and having a good run and fancies his chances against the other two. But as so much of sport is played in the mind I wonder if he making a point (posturing?) to Federer particularly by taking from him the no. 2 seed in (effectively) his home tournament? I think this is the first opportunity Murray has had, since overtaking Federer, to start a tournament seeded higher and with it being is Switzerland it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

Don't think there is an ulterior motive in this. I got the impression from what he said at Shanghai that he had told both Basel and Valencia that he may enter their tournaments but had not made a firm commitment to either of them. He said in his interview there (Shanghai) that he was taking a few days rest and relaxation before deciding if he thought it best for him to play in either of these two events. Looks like he has now decided that he has the energy/fitness to enter and that Basel suits his run into Paris and the WTF's better than Valencia.

invisiblecoolers wrote:If Murray enters as wildcard how come he be ranked no.2 seed? do wildcards be ranked in a tournament? or its just a special case here?

Good to 'see' you here again, iC.

I'd say Murray's entrance here is because he craves the challenge of the big guns. He has just won three tournaments back-to-back against the likes of Ferrer, Wawrinka, Young etc etc etc where he was unbeatable so what would he learn and gain by going to Valencia? Okay an easier title to win perhaps but he probably wants a better test of where his game is at at the moment.

It's not going to be a great test of where his game is at against Novak coming back from injury. There is no way that Nole is going to be stupid enough to push himself to the limit in order to aggravate that muscle tear and hurt himself for WTF, and looking forward to his defence of AO. As ND said in recent interview, the main thing is that he is playing again. This is an example of how of course ND will be trying, but he won't be trying to kill himself, unlike the US Open final.

I think it is brilliant for the tournament that Nos 1,3 and 4 are in town, together with some other wonderful players.

We will see where Murray's game is at at the WTF.

Well he'll be getting a better test at Basel than at Valencia. As Federer will be at Basel as well don't forget so definitely more of a challenge at Basel.

Maestro is taking to the stage. Link for watching free:

http://www.sportlemon.tv/c-4.html

And the commentary is in Hoch Deutch, which I CAN understand

coooo, I missed that forehand.....

Great, even the black-wearing permed bleached blonde woman is in the front rows AGAIN!!!

Sensible of Federer to play the first day to avoid too many matches in a row.

I believe they have to play 5 matches in 7 days to win a 500....exactly like a TMS actually.

Gone are the days of Connors and Laver where you could win a tournament by entering at the semifnal stage.

It's a terrific field for a 500 - I think that there's little doubt that Murray and TMF will be wanting to win fairly badly.

If Djoko is here for 'practice' I would not expect to see him battle through to a final against (probably) TMF or Murray. On the other hand, Nadal is not in the field so he won't have to play an exhausting slugfest and may be prepared to give it a go if he's feeling good after the first couple of rounds.

The one certainty is that the TD at Basel must be one of the most envied people in his position all year.

Potato's holding on in style....

barrystar wrote:The one certainty is that the TD at Basel must be one of the most envied people in his position all year.

That's for sure

Tenez wrote:I believe they have to play 5 matches in 7 days to win a 500....exactly like a TMS actually.

Gone are the days of Connors and Laver where you could win a tournament by entering at the semifnal stage.

No wonder they lasted longer!!!

Poor Potato...loses the first set in tie-break....I expect a quick 2nd...

noleisthebest wrote:Poor Potato...loses the first set in tie-break....I expect a quick 2nd...

Maestro through 1st safely - can't see anything from your live feed NITB, so can you let me know if TMF looking good or dismal - ta! Off for bath now - equivalent of watching through fingers!

It's Shanky Maestro tonight.

I remember he always had difficult 1st rounds in Basle as he gets used to the pace of the court.

time please wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Poor Potato...loses the first set in tie-break....I expect a quick 2nd...

Maestro through 1st safely - can't see anything from your live feed NITB, so can you let me know if TMF looking good or dismal - ta! Off for bath now - equivalent of watching through fingers!

Put it this way, he's not in his slam form

time please wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Poor Potato...loses the first set in tie-break....I expect a quick 2nd...

Maestro through 1st safely - can't see anything from your live feed NITB, so can you let me know if TMF looking good or dismal - ta! Off for bath now - equivalent of watching through fingers!

the second link worked fine for me ...

Order of play out for tomorrow. Murray's on on Wednseday.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2011/328/op.pdf

noleisthebest wrote:

time please wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Poor Potato...loses the first set in tie-break....I expect a quick 2nd...

Maestro through 1st safely - can't see anything from your live feed NITB, so can you let me know if TMF looking good or dismal - ta! Off for bath now - equivalent of watching through fingers!

the second link worked fine for me ...

Thanks NITB and thanks to you and Tenez for comments - did think as I was watching scoreboard stall and the stutter to next point that it might all be shanky doodle dandy out there - still Maestro through.

So Novak is tomorrow and Andy on Wednesday - what a pity Eurosport not covering until later in the week!

Tenez wrote:Sensible of Federer to play the first day to avoid too many matches in a row.

I believe they have to play 5 matches in 7 days to win a 500....exactly like a TMS actually.

Gone are the days of Connors and Laver where you could win a tournament by entering at the semifnal stage.

Actually some may have to play 5 matches in 5 days to win this one given they don't play their first game until Wednesday.

Watched match on LSH. Maestro looked a bit jaded and a couple of DFs were pretty strange. Missed a couple of BH DTLs. Potito had a BP in first set. Second set was a bit cleaner. Tried a bit of S&V. The BH overheads worked well.

Missed the Hoch Deutsch interview though.

laverfan wrote:Watched match on LSH. Maestro looked a bit jaded and a couple of DFs were pretty strange. Missed a couple of BH DTLs. Potito had a BP in first set. Second set was a bit cleaner. Tried a bit of S&V. The BH overheads worked well.

Missed the Hoch Deutsch interview though.

Excellent summary. Fed improved in the second but it could have gone wither way as he didn't dominate. Mind you 6 weeks off does mean you are rusty. I think the young guns will be too much for him to handle thought :-(

What I cannot get is why Murray decided to enter this tournament. He is hell bent on securing the number 3 spot but surely that is a given because I really cannot be Fed being undefeated champion again at the WTF so that's a lot of point to surrender.

Would Murray not have benefited from a break before Paris/London? I think this may not be such a great idea as the desire to put distance between himself and Fed may result in unnecessary fatigue. Surely his goal should be winning the WTF as otherwise he is yet without any real 'big' wins?

Calder106 wrote:

Tenez wrote:Sensible of Federer to play the first day to avoid too many matches in a row.

I believe they have to play 5 matches in 7 days to win a 500....exactly like a TMS actually.

Gone are the days of Connors and Laver where you could win a tournament by entering at the semifnal stage.

Actually some may have to play 5 matches in 5 days to win this one given they don't play their first game until Wednesday.

Yes I know as that was my point about Fed being sensible to play on Monday. 5 matches in 5 days is also 5 matches in 7 days....whereas 5 matches in 5 days might not be 5 matches in 7 days...

FedsFan wrote:What I cannot get is why Murray decided to enter this tournament.

He is also playing doubles with Jamie in Basel. A rest before Paris would have been better or Valencia less strenuous.

Tenez wrote:

Calder106 wrote:

Tenez wrote:Sensible of Federer to play the first day to avoid too many matches in a row.

I believe they have to play 5 matches in 7 days to win a 500....exactly like a TMS actually.

Gone are the days of Connors and Laver where you could win a tournament by entering at the semifnal stage.

Actually some may have to play 5 matches in 5 days to win this one given they don't play their first game until Wednesday.

Yes I know as that was my point about Fed being sensible to play on Monday. 5 matches in 5 days is also 5 matches in 7 days....whereas 5 matches in 5 days might not be 5 matches in 7 days...

Yeah got the irony of your earlier post. Nice to see Fed can still get the schedule he wants even when he is not top seed. Still it's his home tournament so I suppose that's ok

I think that Murray might just be looking for some court time in order that he doesn't go into Paris cold after a three week break. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't make the SF's here as I think he is using this as a staging event for Paris and the WTF's.