Vienna, Stockholm, Basel, Valencia, Moscow (and other 'low-level' events)

First topic message reminder :

Vienna - Ferrer v Johnson - Johnson playing pretty well and can win this one.
Stockholm - Berdych v Sock - just started.
Basel - Qualifying rounds in progress.
Valencia - Qualifying rounds in progress.
Moscow - Cilic v Bautista-Agut - BA can take a set off Cilic.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/

I bought some furniture off a bloke who looked like Djokovic last night.

seanmichaels wrote:I bought some furniture off a bloke who looked like Djokovic last night.

And, by extension, who looked a bit like Screech from Saved By The Bell.

Can Cilic hang on for 4 more games to beat Nadal?

No, he cannot. A three-setter?

Rafa on balance probably playing poorer than he has for large parts of the year, but his mind seems to be in mule mode.

Get his mind right...the rest will surely follow

Don't forget it's indoor HC, Rafa's least favorite surface. He's done well beating big hitters one after another. Big hitters can force you to play from way back behind the baseline, Rafa has done well by exploiting their weaknesses, forcing them to make more errors.

I think against Gasquet, Rafa will have more chances of moving forward and be more aggressive.

He has surpassed my expectations and that of many others I would suggest; maybe the long awaited match against Fed is not so far away

Its odds on now, with rafa a set up.
If they meet, Federer should by all accounts win. Its a fast surface, his own backyard, hes in better form. It wont do much to paper over the cracks, more assert that hes the better indoor man, which in fairness we all knew a long time ago.

If Nadal did upset the odds if they meet, what a boost that would be for him.

Stunning match this. Both playing some great tennis. Rafa still making more errors than he would like but there's a lot more good stuff than earlier in the week.

For Rafa all the rest of this season is about little steps forward. The deeper he goes into tournies then the confidence creeps back and the more he play then he'd hope more consistency returns and fitness improves. Just now he is in the best position he has been mentally and form-wise of the year I'd say.

Losing a set from 4-2 to 6-4 is a Gasquet trademark. from 3-1, this would be 6-3.

That choke from Gasquet when serving for the set was so sad - everyone knew it was coming but it still hurt.

This is a lol Worthy TB.

Poor Gasquet. I suspect he could have been a multi slam winner if Tennis worked like boxing and a player only knew he was winning at the end

it seems that Rafa has only got to the final by virtue of the fact that his opponents have choked... Im not sure what that says about them, or Rafa
Should then, Rafa meet Fed, and he won.. could we say Rafa won or Fed choked ?

Opponents always choke against Novak, Fed and Nadal; this is the norm. So many 'chokers' in the tour!

Yeah everyone seems to choke against them. It's almost as though there's somethibg about the top three that makes them hard to put away

Nadal is screwed tomorrow.

Better off feigning injury to save the embarrassment.

Nadal to be poisoned with a bratwurst tomorrow so Fed wins

Fed beats the Stocking 6:3, 6:4 with a initial broken serve when serving for the match.

Tomorrow a good old time match.

I think Fed and Nadal from next year to become King's of ATP 250/500, winning them all

We want a bagel tomorrow Federer. Give the people what they ask

Out of the blue, we have another Fed-Rafa match.  Small-time venue with little at stake, but fun nonetheless.

I expect Rafa will prevail, though Fed should have a fighting chance.

Rafa to prevail? Don't think Nike will allow that, let alone the Swiss Banks, to have Fed lose in home town.

All good in 3 sets for Fed

All are invited to the Fedal bash-the-BH contest.

Fed spraying his shots all over the place. Against Rafa he's not going to win playing like that. He has to up his level. As for Rafa, I hope he chooses to receive instead of serve first. If he keeps losing his first service game of each set, he's not going to win either. So, the one who plays better or less worse will win.

Belovedluckyboy wrote: So, the one who plays better or less worse will win.

Quote of the century to end all sports mysteries

laverfan wrote:All are invited to the Fedal bash-the-BH contest.

LF, invite me for tea and tennis tomorrow, I'll do your garden then

As I said with Cilic providing Rafa comes on to court for the first set instead of hanging around in the dressing room, , he has every chance imo
I haven't found Fed particularly impressive. He is going to be crowd assisted but Rafa will be ready for that me thinks..

Yeah, the emphasis is on 'less worse' if you're not smart enough to catch it.

Belovedluckyboy wrote:Yeah, the emphasis is on 'less worse' if you're not smart enough to catch it.

You flirting with me? catch me and all that talk?

LOL SB and Jahu.

Crowd assist or not, it wont matter. Novak had beaten Fed in 2009 and Delpo had beaten Fed twice there.

Fed was playing horrible tennis tbh, its more Sock who plays 'more worse'. With that kind of shanking, Fed still beats his opponent so comfortably, speaks more about how his opponent plays actually.

Yeah so your quote who plays better or less worse will win is same thing, i.e no logic as both are same, as playing less worse means playing "better" then playing more worse, auto-magically making the less worse player be better.

Peace now.

0Luv, how's the book going, you millionaire yet?

Belovedluckyboy wrote:Crowd assist or not, it wont matter.  Novak had beaten Fed in 2009 and Delpo had beaten Fed twice there.

Fed was playing horrible tennis tbh, its more Sock who plays 'more worse'. With that kind of shanking, Fed still beats his opponent so comfortably, speaks more about how his opponent plays actually.

He wasn't hungry when he lost those.

Nadal is easier than an inform Delpo or Novak.

This will be a comfortable Fed win

Haha, no but I did get my first paycheck at my paper
Wonderful feeling having this thing called money.
Progress on "the book". Greg Sharko at the ATP is getting the press team to ask some players with one-handers in the top 50-100 (mahut, almagro, groth, youzhny, ram, stak, lajovic etc) to answer my questions .

JM, so you think Fed is hungry now? Yet he plays worse than those times when he lost in the finals.

JM, so you think Fed is hungry now? Yet he plays worse than those times when he lost in the finals.

Its Fedal tomoz then... for a nothing title, with both playing a bit meh. I cant say I feel the rafa/fed bashing magic any longer. Fed wins, his record is still embarassing, rafa wins, his year is still abject

Oh well that's my day mapped out.

Watching paint dry it is.

Jahu wrote:

laverfan wrote:All are invited to the Fedal bash-the-BH contest.

LF, invite me for tea and tennis tomorrow, I'll do your garden then

Watch out for the Big Pond in the stroll over to my Garden. . Tea and Shortbread, it is.

Haddie, BB, you are invited too, if you are still North of me?

legendkillarV2 wrote:Watching paint dry it is.

Unfortunately, the match tomorrow will lead to denigration of the loser, rather then the celebration of the winner.

Nadal has been impressive getting this far. He has come back from the brink, including hanging on to the second set with Gasquet. Nadal's movement has improved despite the faltering FH.

Federer BH and FH have been misfiring all tournament. Gasket's BH seemed better at handling Nadal, leaving the mental demons aside. Foot-speed is another factor. A first serve and slice will stand him in good stead.

Hopefully some Swiss bankers are sanding the court down to make it play a bit faster tomorrow.

Should be a routine win for Fed tomorrow. Reckon it will be 6-4 6-2.

Born Slippy wrote:Should be a routine win for Fed tomorrow. Reckon it will be 6-4 6-2.

You may have a new friend called Jahu.

Routine win for Fed? But did not Cilic also beat Rafa earlier in the tournament, and look at where we are now?

Rafa is a really bad match-up for Roger. Perhaps not as bad here as on other surfaces, but still, unless Fed ups it from how he played in the SF, Rafa will likely win.

LF, you a bit hyper tonight, Halloween effect? Thx for invite

Luv, well done, I knew you would make it into mainstream VIP echelons

laverfan wrote:

Jahu wrote:

laverfan wrote:All are invited to the Fedal bash-the-BH contest.

LF, invite me for tea and tennis tomorrow, I'll do your garden then

Watch out for the Big Pond in the stroll over to my Garden. . Tea and Shortbread, it is.

Haddie, BB, you are invited too, if you are still North of me?

Thank you for your invite but Im back across the pond where the temps are still in the high 20's and the mozzies are still biting... This country has much to answer for, especially those pesky left handed Spaniards !!!  I get a closer look at his backside from here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:

PS it would have been somewhat tricky having us both to tea at any rate... Ill let him have centre stage I would not have wanted steal his thunder

Anything but a routine fed win would be 1) a shock 2) a bit of a humiliation for Roger. He couldnt set up conditions and form better than this.

No win situation for Fed. Either he's humiliated or he wins but his H2H remains an embarrassment. How he must be looking forward to it.