Basel

Hello



I know discussing actual tennis matches is not really the thing to do on this forum but I thought I'd stick up a belated thread on Basel. You can also add your thoughts on Valencia if you want.



emancipator

Del po looking really good, crushing Gasquet at the moment.

Very impressed by his ball striking; deep, flat and damn hard.

Federer v Mathieu in the second semi today.

Del Po has now qualified for the WTF, I think we can say he is officially back to his best. Certainly the best he's looked since late 2009.

Thanks for the thread Eman

Great play Del P here.

I thought it was on TV but apparently not. Judging by the scores it's a fairly one-sided contest. Del Potro won in (Vienna?) last week and is looking set for another final which will be against Federer (sorry Mathieu). Unfortunately, Federer knows how to beat him so I imagine he will win in 3 tomorrow. Looking forward, if DelPo goes on a run in Paris, how much will he have left for the WTF considering that's a lot of tennis he'll have played over a few weeks and he's not the fittest guy on tour at the moment?

Both matches on Sky.

Fed gets the break 6-5, will serve for the first set.

Must have been a typical Federer service game, I changed tab to V2 for the adverts and by the time I turned back it was over.

Federer wins comfortably in 2 sets.

Mathieu played very well.

Today's win takes Fed level with Johnny Mac on 875 career wins and he is one behind Mac's 77 career titles.
Next up, and do-able, is Villas on 919 career wins but Lendl and Connors are out of sight.
Fed has now won 68 matches this season - the most since 68 in 2007. With Ferrer making the Valencia final today, there is a chance of two more over-30 title wins in what has been a great season for the oldies.

Amazing how good both lendl and connors were that their match win and tournament win records even after Federer's rampant assault on the record books seems wonderfully secure. Connors is got to love it, Fed destroys everyone else's records but his record for match wins and tournament wins looks about as unbreakable as ever. God I miss Jimmy, it would be fun if we had a time machine ey sir fred?

One important factor that gets forgotten for Connors was the number of finals that he did not win, which is 51.

His doubles is not too shabby either with 16 titles/11 finals.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Co/J/Jimmy-Connors.aspx?t=tf

Lendl is not too far away with 50 finals he did not win.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Le/I/Ivan-Lendl.aspx?t=tf

His doubles numbers are 6/10.

McEnroe numbers are even more astonishing.

His singles is at 77 titles/31 finals but his doubles numbers are 71 titles /22 finals.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Mc/J/John-Mcenroe.aspx?t=tf

In contrast (Titles/Finals) are

Federer - Singles - 76/32, Doubles - 8/5
Djokovic - Singles - 33/19, Doubles - 1/1
Murray - Singles - 24/13, Doubles - 2/1
Nadal - Singles 50/21, Doubles - 8/3

I understand doubles may not be everyone's cup of tea, but McEnroe and Connors are outstanding compared to the current Top 4.

To get to Connors 160 singles finals total, Federer (at 109 tomorrow) will have to play, another 50 tournaments, which is roughly 2.5 years with an average of 20 per year and get to the final of each one. Federer will be almost 34 (same age as Stepanek and Haas now). I think he can do it and get to Connors's numbers if he can play till he is 39 (same age as Connors), which is 8 more years or 2020. His career would span 22 (1998-2020) years and some of Rosewall's longevity records would bite the dust. It would be an absolutely fantastic career at that point. Here is looking forward to it.

It's a wonderful thought laverfan, but in an era demanding more running than ever? No, sadly.

Federer could possibly get to that record of total finals if he really wanted to play a load of little 250s but then that would diminish the record. In reality, it's one record that's out of his reach.

Henman Bill wrote:Federer could possibly get to that record of total finals if he really wanted to play a load of little 250s but then that would diminish the record. In reality, it's one record that's out of his reach.

Jimmy has a lot of garbage in his record, to be fair. In the big stuff Federer is already well ahead of him on all counts.

Garbage? Bit harsh on some tournaments. Although it does remind me of Pele's 1000 goals. And then someone (Baddiel and Skinner;Fantasy Football) looked into it and found that friendlies and charity matches and all sorts of things were included in it.

Anyway, the match is about to start, or maybe already has, I will have it on in a minute.

For those that are interested, let's look at Federer-Del Potro head to head. It stands at 13-2 which really puts that US Open final into an interesting perspective. In fact 9 of Federer's 13 were straight sets including the first four that took him to a 6-0 lead this season so far.

But the last 2 were rather different. Federer won from 2-0 down at the French and 19-17 in the decider at the Olympics so it's not like Del Potro hasn't been challenging. Maybe he's due a win. Del Potro is one of the few players that can put Federer on the back foot, almost dominate him, and really give Federer an opportunity to show his defence.

Given some of the matches I've seen (FO 2009 for instance) where Federer has struggled to contain the Argentine, it's amazing to me that Del Potro is 0-6 for the season. As I say, maybe he is due a win. In some ways he would be unlucky if that win came today instead of a bigger tournament, on the other hand it is a final, so is for a tournament win, so it is debatable.

Perhaps Del Potro is unlucky not to be at the very least 1-5 this season against Federer, than again you could argue for Federer that he is unlucky one of his 2 defeats came in a slam final.

Del Potro serving for the first set.

Where is everyone on here?

Tremendous first set from Del Potro, largely high quality match, great serving from both especially Del Potro is a serve-led first set with only one break.

Del Potro hardly gave Federer a look in on his service games. The one break came about with some good hitting from Del Potro in 2 or 3 points where he kept hitting very deep close to the line forcing a Federer error or weak shot to capitalise on.

Then finally under some pressure serving it out, but made a great shot from out wide to get 15-0, made a tricky volley to get 30-0, before going on to win. Deserved first set from Del Potro.

Federer not doing much wrong, average performance by his standards.

Interesting to see Federer said to be 16-0 on indoor last season, and 9-0 so far this season.

Del Potro saves a break point gutsily with a forehand winner.

Where would we rank him in terms of favourites at the WTF. A final appearance in his only appearance there, only losing due to tiredness. Definately can upset the favourites there and even contend to win the event.

Federer's turn to save a BP with a gutsy forehand winner, this time the inside-out cross court. Would have left DP serving for the match but instead Fed hangs on and leads 6-5 in the set. Potential turning point or stay of execution?

Del Po holds and it is 6-6 and tie-break time.

I will say if Fed digs out the win in this tie-break I see him taking the match. Fed leads 3-1.

And Fed takes the tie-break 7-5 and I would say he is now in the box seat.

Del Potro did not get as many returns in in the tiebreak. Federer was just strong enough mentally to sneak the set.

Unlucky for Del Potro to be at 1-1, as he's been slightly the better player so far.

Del Potro saving 3 break points in that game. One Federer hit long, another he failed to get a return in, a missed opportunity.

Didn't see the first due to some fool at Sky decided to end the coverage and change channels on break point.

Beatiful service game from Federer with the drop volley winner, drop shot from the back winner and the drive down the line backhand winner that I love. Beautiful stuff. He's been holding serve a little more comfortably than before.
EDIT: Second straight love game while Del Potro hanging on to his.

High quality match, both are serving excellently. I think JMDP's just shaded it so far, but Fed looks strong in the final set to this point. 4-4, despite the serving stats I think there could be a break before the end here.

Silver wrote:High quality match, both are serving excellently. I think JMDP's just shaded it so far, but Fed looks strong in the final set to this point. 4-4, despite the serving stats I think there could be a break before the end here.

I totally agree Fed especially has been serving very well.
I fancy Fed to win this 7-5 in this 3rd set, let's see though.

Sadly we were wrong, IMBL! Tiebreak it is to decide it, I'm gonna go with...Del Potro, 8-6.

Edit: Well played JMDP, a deserved win although the standard was high from both. Fed's first loss indoors since 2010 I think, so doubly impressive! Federer was awesome on the serve but couldn't put it together from the back against some big hitting.

Del Potro was just the better player today. Roger had no answer for his serve or forehands.

DelPo!!! Well done, what a good victory for the guy. He's definitely near his best now and I think there's more to come. I feared for him after the 2nd set but he hung in there, especially during that tough service game at the start of the 3rd where he saved numerous break points.

And Del Potro wins in Basel in three sets. He played very good consistent stuff throughout and never went away. For Fed it is only a minor setback. Bigger challenges lie ahead in Paris and London. A morale boosting win for Juan Martin Del Potro though.

Well, it turned on one point, a choked forehand from Fed from an easy position that he should have hit for a winner, at 2-3 in the TB. A shame since he was mentally strong in the match in general.

Del Potro the deserved winner just about in the context of the match, he did not have his serve broken. Also deserved a win against Federer in the contest of the sequence of matches he's had against him.

Del Potro played like a top 4-5 player. He needs to get more wins against the top guys but he looks like the nearest challanger, followed by Raonic, to the big 4 domination, in my opinion.

McEnroe's record still standing.

Fantastic display by Juan Martin Del Potro.

kemet wrote:Del Potro was just the better player today. Roger had no answer for his serve or forehands.

It's going to be an interesting 3 months for Roger as suddenly he's starting to look like a normal 31 year old legend!! He seems just a shade flat footed to me and you need speed to beat Del Potro

Good win and also good for the game, although I like the idea of Roger still beating everyone outside the Top 4

On a side note, Daveed has beaten Dolgy in 3 sets in the Valencia final. Another title for the year and another step closer to Rafa....

Djokovic is now 195 pts behind Federer.

Djokovic has 380 pts to defend to year end.
Federer has 2,500 pts to defend to year end.

Both can win 2,500 pts from Paris and WTF.
Hard to see Roger staying #1 at year end.
He could be overtaken next week.

Well thanks for that Del boy, looks more and more likely that Novak will now retain his number one ranking for a second straight year a wonderful accomplishment. Great credit to fed for making it such a close race at 31 years of age, no shame in second place.

I really do wonder where Fed's motivation playing in 2013 to the highest level will come from...because don't forget it may all look easy out on court but he has to do loads of practice, gym work, etc...at some point his brain is going to go "nah, I don't feel like it today...".

Well done to Delpo, he fought and got it, and after 6 loses to Fed this year, this was a slap in Feds face in front of swiss crowd.

Fed should play WTF and call it quits, become ATP president or some non-important ambassador and get back to family stuff.

Like all of us lydian he loves the game, and I actually think Roger is he kind of international guy that doesn't mind the travelling and interacting with people and fans either. Plus I can give you 50 million little reasons he will come back motivated next year. You can have a lot of money like fed but when you are making a million dollars a week like the Rog it is still hard to walk away from.

Yes he loves the game but even that after a while isn't enough to keep busting a gut when you've done it all. I think it's Novak's and Andy's year next year as Fed will start to decline IMO and Nadal is going to be rusty as hell, not even sure he'll be back until South American clay season.

BTW, Novak has a beast of a draw in Paris to get through...likely to be Verdasco, Raonic, Del Potro, Tsonga, Federer or Murray. What's the opposite of cakewalk?

Jahu wrote:Well done to Delpo, he fought and got it, and after 6 loses to Fed this year, this was a slap in Feds face in front of swiss crowd.

Fed should play WTF and call it quits, become ATP president or some non-important ambassador and get back to family stuff.

Have not heard from you for a while, Jahu. I personally would like him to continue playing as long as he wants. Bar a couple of missed opportunities, it was a close match. It was good to see him do a loud 'yes' after winning the second set TB. It does mean a lot to him to win and he loves the sport.

lydian wrote:Yes he loves the game but even that after a while isn't enough to keep busting a gut when you've done it all. I think it's Novak's and Andy's year next year as Fed will start to decline IMO and Nadal is going to be rusty as hell, not even sure he'll be back until South American clay season.

BTW, Novak has a beast of a draw in Paris to get through...likely to be Verdasco, Raonic, Del Potro, Tsonga, Federer or Murray. What's the opposite of cakewalk?

Yes Novak does have a tough draw, I am interested in seeing what he will do against Milos, I am more interested in that match as a test of Raonic because the indoor conditions have to be to his likeing. Either way if reports are true that fed pulled out it looks like he won't need to worry much about securing the #1.

Today's result has an impact on the year end no 1 race but the thing I'm most excited about is Del Potro getting ever closer to looking like a top echelon player again.

Novak is my favourite player but I must admit to a experiencing a visceral thrill when Del Potro starts cranking the forehands and he certainly launched a few today.

I really hope that when Fed eventually succumbs to Father Time that it is Del Potro that can take his spot in the big 4. I find him a far more exciting player than any of the other big hitters.

Good post Murdoch is it too soon to do our back to back year end #1 congratulatory thread, maybe we should wait, but I expect your full insight and participation when it does become official.

I like Del Po's game I am amazaed not just at his power but how well he moves for a big man. His movement at that size is very special especially when you compare him to other big players. I like his character and demeanor as well and all reports are that he is one of the nicest guys on the tour.

Socal, when Novak's number 1 ranking (hopefully) becomes official, I will certainly be on here in celebration, quite possibly with a wee measure of Macallan in my hand! It's been a long, frustrating year in many ways but #1 is great note to end on. My view is that 1 YE#1 is a hot streak, 2 YE #1s is a step toward some significance in tennis lore.

Dep Po - my 2nd favourite player I think. I love his power and his rock singer-style celebrations at USO are one of my highlights of the year!

HM/Socal - I echo those sentiments re: Delpo. I hope he's in the top 3 or 4 this time next year.